Craziness

This week has been a very stressful and disappointing week, but nonetheless a good week. So Jabari and Edtrice totally scammed us. We have tried to go back and visit them but they haven't been home and they don't call us anymore. So lame. On Tuesday we went to St. Vincent's and I really had a wonderful time. The people who came were able to get clothes, some Christmas items, and food. I helped count their items and put everything in bags. I don't know why but I started to get really emotional while I was helping. It just hit me that a lot of these people don't exactly need this stuff.  They get it because their priorities are a bit wrong.  Although other people truly have nothing and it is amazing that they are able to come and get help. I really do love the people.

 

We went and had a lesson with Kyah and her mom on Tuesday. It was a great lesson....we basically reviewed the Restoration and explained why our church is different from other churches. We talked about baptism and she said it was ok if she got baptized later in December. We try and keep in contact with her as much as we can but she is really busy. She didn't come to our Christmas party on Saturday or to church yesterday so I am not sure where things will be going. Tuesday night we went and had dinner at the Hughes'. I have surprisingly had a lot of pasta down here and for dinner we had really good spaghetti. We stayed longer and helped decorate Christmas cookies for the night’s that the ward goes caroling.

 

So one day when we were tracting, we were just sitting in our car for a second and we saw this kid walk over to a tree with a BB gun, shoot a squirrel, and then carry the dead squirrel back to his house. It was nuts! On that same tracting excursion we met a lady named Renee and her daughter. They invited us in and we talked to Renee about the story of the wise men. She said that right before we came she had been in need of an uplifting message and motivation to be better and then we came! The Spirit is great! At the end she invited us to her church's Christmas party on Saturday. It was at 5pm and our ward Christmas party was at 6pm. So we ended up going to Renee's party for a little bit and then we left. It was actually really cool! When we first got there, Renee hadn't arrived so we just sat awkwardly at a table and NO ONE talked to us. In our ward, if someone is new they are swarmed!! But then Renee came and she introduced us to some people. Anyway, we only got to stay for the beginning of the program but there was a lot of singing and clapping. I was in heaven! It was so fun! Then right after we went to our party and it was really fun being with our ward. We invited a lot of investigators though and no one came......argh! Oh well, somehow we will reach people. I just need to have more faith that our time will come.

 

On Friday, Sis. White trained me to be a ninja!! Haha....we went to Office Depot and bought heart shaped sticky notes and then we went to Latoya's house and heart attacked her door. It was so much fun and it totally made her night! She texted us and just said she loved us so much. I felt so good! I absolutely adore Latoya! Then last night we went caroling at her house and after we were done she told me to follow her and she had put up all of the hearts in her room!!!! I just love her so much!

 

So yeah, we went caroling with the Turleys and with the Elders last night. They basically do caroling every night until Christmas unless it is raining. We go to investigators, members, and less actives houses. It was really fun and it is a great way to spread Christmas cheer. We are going to be at the Turley's house for Christmas and I am really excited. They truly have become our family and I am so grateful.

 

So, weird tracting stories.....we knocked on a house and the husband came to the door and then he went to get his wife. One thing that is unusual for me is people talk through their glass storm doors instead of just opening the door. Anyway, she talked to us through the door and we said we wanted to share a Christmas message with her. Then she said, "A Christmas message to you too!" and shut the door. What does that even mean??? Then on a different day we tracted into this lady named Jessica. She has a lot of faith and goes to another church. She began to tell us all this crazy stuff that happens in her church though. In her church they speak in tongues, apparently her pastor resurrected a woman who had died, and half the time she is scared. Sometimes I don't understand...you shouldn't feel scared in church.  We are hoping we can teach that to her when we go back on Tuesday.

 

Yesterday I got to speak in church. Since I am the "greenie" our wonderful district leader nominated me to speak on behalf of the missionaries about He is the Gift. It actually went really well though. I didn't call anyone to repentance or anything (hee hee – friend joke), but I talked about the Savior and used Elder Perry's talk from the December Ensign. I am so incredibly grateful for my Savior. I know that He knows exactly what I am going through. I have to constantly remind myself that I just need to turn to Him because He is always there.

 

In my personal studies this week I read Alma 34 (https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/34?lang=eng). I absolutely love this chapter because it talks so much about prayer and repentance through the Atonement. Both are critical in order for us to make it through this life. We should always be praying to our Heavenly Father. He cares about each of us so much and wants us to talk to Him. This life truly is the time for us to prepare to meet God. We also had an awesome district meeting this week. The zone leaders came and taught a lesson about John 15. The chapter talks about how the Lord is the vine and we are the branches. If we do not attach ourselves to the vine or let Jesus Christ into our lives then we will perish. No branch can live without the main vine. We must always remember that. It is only through Christ that we can live. We need to choose to not separate ourselves from Him. I know this is true.

 

I love you all and I can't wait to talk to you! Make sure you have time to enjoy the holidays! :)

 

Love, Sister Fry

 

 

Hello mi familia!

Hello mi familia!

Alright, so I haven't been able to read anyone's emails yet but I skimmed through for questions and hopefully I will answer all your questions. I have so much to tell! This week was a wonderful week. Sis. White and I had a lot of fun this week! Ok, to answer questions. On P-days we pretty much email, go shopping, take a nap, and relax. We honestly haven't done anything too exciting. There isn't a lot to do in Greenville, but we were thinking about going to a museum today. We'll see. For finding we are required to get 7 hours of tracting each week. That is how we find most of our investigators. Tracting is still a struggle for me. I am becoming more confident and Sis. White and I had a fantastic training session on Saturday that helped me to be more confident. I realized that even when people get upset or offended, I shouldn't let it bother me because I am giving them an opportunity to hear about the restored gospel of Christ. I should not feel bad about waking them from their nap or interrupting their day. If Christ came to their door would they be upset about Him interrupting whatever they were doing? Sometimes we feel weird knocking on people's doors so many times, but Sis. White said that Christ would never stop knocking. I feel more confident and strong in proclaiming the gospel. We have the truth and I am here to share it.

Speaking of tracting, Saturday was really rough, but yesterday was an amazing day of tracting! We met a guy who listened to us and the missionaries had tracted into him a year ago. We are going to go back and teach him and his family. We talked to a bunch of teenage boys playing basketball about the Priesthood and a few of them were interested but several of them just smirked at us. Silly boys. They have no idea. We also met and visited with a deaf man! My ASL is really rough, but I was able to communicate a little bit and understand part of what he was saying. His name is Danny and he is the nicest man in the world! We gave him a pamphlet and we are going to go back and give him The Restoration DVD since he can watch it in ASL. Super excited! We also went to a door and started talking to a man about Christ and the Restoration and he started telling us about his divorce and how he is trying to follow Christ and live the commandments. All of a sudden he started to cry and then told us bye and shut the door. It was the most heart breaking experience. We are going to try to visit him again. We met a lot of great people and also a lot of rude people on this particular tracting adventure. There was a man who told us he didn't need Jesus today and slammed the door. Didn't feel so good. We ALWAYS need Christ.

So we do spend a lot of time visiting members and less actives. We have one less active who was baptized about a year ago and she is wonderful. I think I mentioned her last time. Her name is Latoya. Oh that's right I did. She is looking for a job and she has been using the site ldsjobs.org. She also is having some health issues so we have been really concerned about her. She won't come to church though which is killing me. She knows it is true, but she still doesn't completely trust that it will really help her in her life. I honestly love her so much!

Right now we have 7 investigators with baptismal dates, but none of them have come to church and we haven't been able to meet with a lot of them. In order to get baptized they have to come to church at least twice. But guess what? On Saturday we went to Kyah's house but she wasn't there so we taught her mom, Rose, a lesson. Rose is absolutely wonderful and she is always there when we stop by so we have talked to her a lot. Right as we were leaving Kyah came home so we talked to her for a bit and she said she missed us so much! She absolutely loved the dessert we took her for Thanksgiving and she said her whole family loved it too! She told us that she noticed that when she didn't see us for a while, things started to get really rough. She totally recognizes the Spirit! Then she said, "So still the 14th right? What time?" We looked at each other and told her we would have to get back to her on that. She is still planning on being baptized, but she still doesn't completely understand what that means. It takes a lot more preparation. We are meeting with her this Tuesday and she is coming to church on Sunday. I just know it will happen. (This is the young mother that Brady challenged to baptism her first week in Mississippi.)

I haven't played the piano a ton (especially since no one has pianos here in Mississippi since it is so poor) but Sis. White is really good at making sure I get to play for a bit each week. Sometimes I play for classes at church.  Actually, I told the music director that I really want to play in the Christmas program. She was so grateful I volunteered and said I definitely could. So I am playing in sacrament meeting on the 21st. I am super excited!! Yesterday in church it was so spiritual. We fasted that we would be able to get 300 baptisms as a mission by the end of December (this would be a total of baptisms for a year for the mission). Right now we are at 256. I started my fast on Saturday night and just ate a granola bar for breakfast and then fasted until 1pm. It truly was a blessing to be able to fast so long (Brady’s hypoglycemia often prevents her from fasting). I could have fasted longer, but I was hesitant since we were going tracting for a while. Since I was fasting though I really got a lot out of church. I bore my testimony and in Sunday School we talked about Exaltation and in Relief Society we talked about Christ. Someday we will all get to become like our Heavenly Father. So amazing.

We mostly drive in our car. Our area is pretty big so we just drive. However, we may have to bike some more this month because we have used a lot of miles already. It is getting a lot colder. For about a week it was really warm. But now it is pretty cold.

So I think Sis. White sent you the story about the high people we taught, Edtrice and Jabari. We went back on Tuesday with a member and taught Edtrice the Restoration. It was so spiritual and she cried as we told her about the First Vision. Then that afternoon Jabari called and talked to me for about 20 minutes. He was going on about how they are struggling so much and they need our help. They are struggling to put food on the table and to pay their bills. That night we took them some dinner, but then we soon realized that was not the best idea. We both had a sick feeling and started to worry that they were scamming us. We taught them again on Friday and they committed to come to church. We had a member go pick them up but no one answered the door. Then last night Jabari called and apologized for not making it to church, but asked if we could get them food. When we meet with them on Tuesday we are going to have to be straight with them. We can't provide for them. We can't just give them fish, but we can teach them how to fish by hopefully giving them a few resources. They really need to get jobs. Who knows, maybe they will actually have a desire to learn about the gospel, but right now they just want us to help them physically. Makes me really sad.

On Wednesday we went to an area of our mission called Cleveland which is about an hour away from where we live. Half of our ward lives there and we have some investigators there. We stayed Wednesday night at Sis. Solomon's house (the Relief Society President) and then Thursday walked everywhere. Tender mercy. When we are in Cleveland we get to teach at Delta State University!!!! On Wednesday I was really missing school and then on Thursday we got to eat lunch on campus and teach some less actives on campus. It completely made my life!!!! I was so happy all day long! I absolutely love school and being at DSU made me feel so good. It was also great talking to people my own age. It truly was one of the best days this week.

So Sis. White is still struggling with her sinus infection and I think I started to get one this week because I had a headache for about 4 days straight. Not super fun. Apparently it is very common to get sinus infections in Mississippi. They call it the "Delta or Mississippi Crud." I didn't have a headache yesterday so hopefully it won't get any worse.

Alright, I was reading in my scriptures in Alma this week and here are some scriptures y'all should read. Alma 28:14, Alma 29, and Alma 30:41-44. These are just wonderful missionary scriptures and they reminded me of my purpose as a missionary and they made me want to be a better missionary. So read them and try to apply them into your lives. They are really powerful. I also had very spiritual experiences as I watched The Restoration DVD with an investigator and The Testaments with Sis. White. Amazing videos! After watching The Restoration I asked our investigator if she would be willing and have the faith to do anything the Lord asked of her just like Joseph Smith. Then I realized that that is what I am doing. You're right Mom, I am not giving myself enough credit. If I didn't have faith I wouldn't be out here. Yes, it is not easy, but I am doing what the Lord needs me to be doing. The Testaments also strengthened my love for the Savior. He is the perfect example and I want to be just like Him. I love the Savior so much and I know He is with me every step of the way.

You are all amazing! I love you so much! Everyday you strengthen my testimonies. Keep working hard. I love you and have a blessed week! :)

Love, Sister Fry

Sister Fry and Josefine

Sister Fry and Sister White

Sister Fry pecan pickin'

Happy December!

 

Sister Fry on her bike

Sister Fry "flying" at the Mississippi River

Sister Fry and Sister Fry peeling Thanksgiving potatoes

Hello family!

Happy December! There is definitely something special about this time of year. I just love it! What's really funny is most people here in Mississippi were decorated from Christmas before we even had Thanksgiving! Crazy! The decorations and lights are beautiful though. There are already a lot of nativities up. Speaking of Christmas, yesterday we were tracting and started talking with a Baptist family. They invited us in and we basically talked about our religions. We asked them questions and they asked us questions. It was really neat and they were so nice. One of the granddaughters was 13 and is a very faithful Baptist. She told us she wants to be a missionary when she gets older and she has already been on several mission trips. It is interesting though how other religions believe that in order to be saved you just have to accept God and Christ. They are still baptized but they believe that the baptism doesn't save you. Only accepting Christ in your heart saves you. It was a really interesting conversation and very eye opening. It strengthened my testimony though of this gospel. Anyway, at the end the grandma was asking us if we are allowed to socialize and have dinner with people. We said yes and she invited us to either spend Christmas Eve or Christmas Day with her and her family. Kind of cool! We gave her our number and we will see what actually happens. They were really nice and have a lot of faith. They just need the fullness of the gospel!

So for Thanksgiving we went to a member's house - the Turley's. I love them to pieces. They are so generous and kind. Every Sunday we go to their house for dinner and a lesson and then they also fed us Thanksgiving. There was so much food! I will send pictures of the table. We went over around 11:30am and helped make the food and then ate and visited with them for a while. The Elders were also there. The food was absolutely delicious. I am so glad y'all had a great Thanksgiving. It sounds like it was really relaxing and fun. I was pretty homesick on Thanksgiving but I am doing better now. I definitely know I need to be out here.

Alright so you asked a lot about our investigators. We haven't actually been able to meet with Kyah yet. We dropped off the dessert and recipe to her mom, but Kyah wasn't there. We have been by a few times, but Kyah hasn't been there. We have an appointment with her this week so hopefully we will be able to catch her. Last time we were there, her husband didn't sit in on the lesson. He is really nice and always let's us in, but is usually running around doing other stuff. When I saw them though I just saw both of them joining the church. I just had that feeling. So we will see what happens. Shelley is doing really well. We had two lessons with her this week. Every single time she goes and gets her Book of Mormon and pamphlets. She really has a desire to learn. The thing that is hard though is some of the people I have met in Mississippi, like Shelley, struggle with reading and comprehensive skills. Shelley is able to read but has a really hard time understanding. We have reviewed the Restoration with her several times. So we are going to have her study the picture Book of Mormon, watch the Restoration DVD, and take it one principle at a time. We weren't able to meet with her on Saturday because we had an appointment but then we had to go to the doctor because Sis. White needed meds for a sinus infection. When we went back later to try to see her she was taking a nap. She also didn't make it to church which was sad. Deylon and his family didn't make it to church either and we haven't met with them yet. Sis. Turley said they will be coming next Sunday though. We are hoping to meet with them tonight.

So Dad, you asked how the ward functions with so little members. Basically each active member has at least 3 callings. I may be exaggerating but the members really do a lot. You see the same people at every meeting and activity. It makes me want to reactivate everyone and get more baptisms so the members don't have to do so much. They really are an incredible ward though. They are so kind to us and are so willing to help the missionaries out. At church yesterday I was talking to Sis. Hughes (we went to her house to make the dessert) and she was just so happy. When I first met her I never saw her smile and she never seemed happy. But as I have gotten to know her she is truly the biggest teddy bear. We wrote her a letter yesterday to thank her for letting us come over on Monday and I could just tell it made her day. As I was talking to her she gave me the biggest hug and we planned times for us to go to her house again. She got really emotional as I was telling her that I felt so much at home when I went to her house and how it meant so much to me. She is a wonderful lady and I look up to her so much. I told her I would tell you Mom that she is taking good care of me. :)

I love the people here. One thing I wish Utah had was the southern hospitality. Everyone waves to each other. Everyone says hi to each other. It is so wonderful!

Oh guess what? A miracle happened! I lost my name tag on Tuesday and it was one of those "last straw" things where it stressed me out so much. We looked every we could but we couldn't find it. So I just continued to pray that I would find it. Then we got a text from a returning member we had visited that said she found it under her couch. We went and grabbed it and I know Latoya thought I was nuts but it was like finding gold! I was so relieved! Latoya was baptized about a year ago I think, but is inactive. We met with her twice this week and she told us that she feels happy around us because she can see how happy the gospel makes us. It was a really cool thing to hear. She is an amazing woman. She just needs to come to church! We committed her to come to church yesterday but she never showed up. It was kind of an off day. But I know she knows it is true. I also know she can do it. She just needs to know she is loved and welcome.

Two other cool things we did: we went to the Mississippi River and I went to my first southern funeral. They were both awesome! Standing next to the Mississippi River made me feel like I was Huck Finn. I felt so free! I will send some pictures of us there too. :) So the funeral was on Saturday and it was for a member of our ward. She became a member a few years ago and none of her family is LDS. It was very interesting. There were a lot of "amens" and "thank the Lords." Definitely different than a typical LDS funeral. The daughter of the woman who died was so overcome with emotion that she was literally screaming and wailing at the front of the chapel next to the coffin. They had to carry her out of the chapel. It absolutely broke my heart. I am so grateful for the gospel and for the knowledge that families are forever. It was a really sad, but eye opening experience.

Well, things are going pretty well. You are all amazing and I absolutely love getting your emails and letters. They make my life! Keep working hard and I can't wait to hear about all your fun Christmas activities. For music we aren't allowed to listen to anything except music from general conference. And for Christmas music we can only listen to the Tabernacle Choir. That has been rough since that is when I feel the Spirit the strongest, but I am trying not to worry about it. I truly feel at peace though with my decision of being out here. I know it is what I need to do. I hope that I am able to come home a better person. A lot of hard things are being thrown at me, but somehow I am making it through. I am grateful for the Lord. Thanks so much for all of your love and support.

Keep up the good work and have a great week. Love you! :)

Love, Sister Fry

 

Hey y'all! 

 

I am trying to be better at saying "y'all" and also have a southern accent. I would say I am getting better. :) First off, I love you all so much!!!!! Ok, onto the business. To start I am just going to answer all y'all's questions. Dad - Yes, I got my bike and it works really well! It has a lock and lights and the gears work really well. I didn't really ride it until yesterday, but it is a really nice bike. It also isn't super heavy which makes it easier to carry it up the stairs to our apartment. The bar is lower which makes it way easier to put my leg over the bike in my skirt. I haven't had any problems so far. The only funny thing is that when I sit on the seat I can barely touch the ground. I am just so short! Once I am up on the bike though it works great. The nice thing about Greenville is that it is completely flat! There are literally no hills so it is not a nightmare to ride our bikes. So how the miles works is we are allotted 1,180 miles each month. Basically we just have to plan accordingly. The thing that sends us over the edge on miles is when we drive to Greenwood for district meeting which is about an hour away I think. We also do "Thirsty Thursdays" which is where we try to bike the whole day to save on miles. Sis. White and I didn't do it on Thursday so we biked yesterday. For the most part we drive though. It is pretty nice. 

 

So each month we get $168 for food and toiletries. I think it will be enough but if I ever get to a point where it isn't I will figure something else or let y'all know. Just so you know I used my debit card at Walmart on Tuesday because I didn't know my pin number for my new card. I will also probably use it again because I wanted to get a Mississippi Christmas t-shirt this week. I am honestly going to try to be as frugal as I can. If I use the debit I will probably let you know why. I may be using it occasionally over the next few weeks for Christmas presents and such. But please let me know if there are any problems. 

According to Sis. White our mission will be getting I-pads before the end of the year. I guess a general authority came and talked to the mission and said we would be using them. I am not 100% positive when this will take place, but I will let you know. I am way excited if it does happen! I also heard that we will get to keep them and that our stakes are paying for them. We'll see! With meals we don't eat with members everyday. The ward here is very small and we just send a sign up each week to see if anyone will feed us. So mostly we just eat at our apartment. It works out though because Sis. White really likes to cook and is really good so I have eaten pretty well since I've been here. Every Sunday we eat at the Turley's house and this last Saturday we ate at Sis. Herron's house, and today we had lunch at the Hughes' house. The food has been amazing! At Sis. Herron's I had my first southern dish. It was pork chops, sweet potatoes, cornbread, turnip greens, and butter beans. Apparently this is a very southern meal. I really enjoyed it. People love to eat meat and pecans here! Holy cow! There are pecans everywhere! I am having to embrace my love for nuts more because they put nuts in everything. Thank goodness I'm not allergic to nuts. :)

So I sent you a card which has my address on it. Hopefully you got it. If not my Greenville address is 481 Cypress Lane Apt D #128 Greenville, MS 38701.  You can send everything directly to me. Especially with the holidays coming up. I haven't gotten any letters since I've been here. I did get a package from Erika though in the MTC so that was really nice and also your letters. I really do want letters though! I honestly hope I tried to be a good friend to those on their missions. I wasn't the best at sending letters, but I tried. 

 

Alright, so here is how my week has gone. Last Tuesday was transfers so we just hung out at the church for most of the day, went out to lunch, then headed to Greenville. We went to Walmart, unpacked, then emailed a little bit more. It was a pretty chill day. It actually stressed me out because we didn't do anything for most of the day besides talk and I felt like I needed to be doing something since in the MTC we were always doing something. On Wednesday we served at St. Vincent's which is a food and clothes shelter put on by the Catholic church. It was incredible. So many humble people. We passed out Thanksgiving chickens. We help out there every Tuesday and Wednesday morning. We get a lot of investigators from doing that and the ladies that work there are really nice. After that we had district meeting and then lunch and it was rough. I was so homesick I just wanted to hide in my room. But after taking a 15 minute power nap I was ready to go and we went to taught a lady named Kyah. She is the sweetest person ever. Her husband is a pastor and she has two little kids. When I met her I just felt like she was going to become a member of the church. She just has that amazing Spirit about her. We taught her the Restoration and I committed her to baptism and she said YES! Obviously, right now she doesn't know what she is getting herself into, but eventually she will. I was so shocked that I felt like I was still in the MTC. I didn't think people actually said yes to baptism in the mission field. :) Even though she was baptized in another church when she was younger, it never made sense to her why young children had to be baptized. She said it makes sense that children are perfect until 8 years old. She also understood the importance of having the correct authority to baptize. So we will see what happens! At the end of the lesson we talked about Thanksgiving and she asked if we had any ideas for desserts. We told her we could help her cook for Thanksgiving so we went to Sis. Hughes' house today to get some recipes and then we made some dessert and we are going to take it to Kyah and let her know we are still willing to help her make food. She couldn't meet with us until next week so we had to come up with something to make sure we could see her this week. :)

 

We also went tracting on Wednesday and I am not going to lie, not my favorite thing. I was really stressed and felt really uncomfortable. I feel a lot better about it now though. So we were tracting in this incredibly wealthy neighborhood and they had HUGE southern homes. The homes here are absolutely beautiful. We didn't have any success going to any of the houses, but right before we were going to go back to the car, we saw a guy picking up pecans in someone's yard. I tell ya, they are popular here. Anyway, he was basically doing something illegal because he was in someone's yard, but no one stopped him. So I asked Sis. White if we should talk to him and she said no. But then we got in the car and I just really felt like I needed to talk to him. So I told her and we got out and walked over. He got this huge smile on his face and we gave him a Restoration pamphlet and card. He was really nice and told us he had thought he needed to go to church and that he would bring his family to church. It is really segregated here in Greenville so he also asked if black people were allowed at our church and we told him yes! Anyway, that was that. Everyday I prayed for Deylon and his family and I want you to know miracles happen. Yesterday we were sitting in the back row of the chapel. Sacrament meeting had been going for about 10 minutes when Deylon and his family walked in. I ALMOST CRIED!!!!! I WAS SO HAPPY!!!!! He has three adorable little kids. What's crazy is that his wife knows Sis. Turley in our ward because Sis. Turley is her boss. This family already has a connection in the ward and they had no idea! It is so important to have the members involved. Because eventually we get moved to another area, but the members are stable. They didn't stay for the whole three hours because they didn't realize it would be that long, but they said they would come next week and be more prepared. We are going to call them this week and get an appointment set up. I seriously could not believe my eyes! It was the most amazing moment I have ever had! Man sorry I am talking so much. There is a lot going on. 

 

On Friday I told Sis. White we needed to organize everything. So we updated the area book, organized the white board, and made a list of everyone we were going to go see on Saturday. On Saturday we drove all over and saw a lot of investigators that hadn't been seen in a while. One house we stopped at was Shelley and the missionaries hadn't been to seen her in about 4 months. When we got there she came out and gave us the biggest hug ever! She had been suspended from work because she was late and she was really struggling. We taught her about the Restoration and committed her to baptism and to reading the Book of Mormon. The Spirit was so strong. She has a crazy life. She even offered to say the opening prayer and she thanked Heavenly Father for sending us to her! It was so beautiful. I told her that I felt like there was a reason she had been suspended from work. Now she has two weeks to study the scriptures and for us to go meet with her. The Spirit has guided us so much this week and it has been amazing. I already love Shelley so much. She has a beautiful Spirit about her. 

 

So let me end with a funny story. We were tracting a few days ago and we started talking to a 19  year old girl. She was hilarious and super sassy which was even better! We were outside when a police officer came up and started talking to her asking if a certain person lived here. The girl was so nervous so we stayed with her. She told the officer she didn't know what he was talking about and then he drove off but then came back. She went over and kept talking to him. I was kind of nervous but then all of a sudden the girl realized that the officer worked with her mom and that her mom had sent the officer to her house. Super funny! The only thing I was thinking the entire time was I was going to protect this girl if it came down to it. If I had to take down the police officer I would have....haha! 

Thanks so much for writing me! I love you so much and want you all to know that I am trying so hard. The ward is wonderful and they are so sweet. Unfortunately is seems as thought the missionaries in Greenville in the past didn't blend very well in the area and so the ward is hesitant toward missionaries. We are working hard and so are the new Elders. The area was basically white-washed because the other areas had a bad attitude about this area. We are in the poorest city in the poorest county in the poorest state of the United States. It is very poor here. But on streets where I would normally feel unsafe, I feel completely safe on as a missionary. It really is wonderful. I am grateful. The Lord is watching out for me and I know he is aware of me. He is also so aware of all of you. Keep going strong.

Alright, mom if you could send those few clothes that would be great. Also if you could send my duffel bag (it is under my bed) and temple cards that we could use to write notes to less active members. The ward here consists of about 30 active members. We really want to try to get people back to church. 

 

 I know there is a lot of stuff about the week I didn't cover, but hopefully it will eventually all get covered. I love you! Oh, also the mission blog is mississippijacksonmission.blogspot.com. :)

Love, Sister Fry

 

 

MTC and Mississippi Arrival Pictures

 

Brady's district (group of missionaries, Elders and Sisters) in the MTC -- they all went to Mississippi together.

Brady's missionary tag

Brady being silly in her dorm room at the MTC

(Dayton said her room is really messy!)

On the train, leaving the MTC and heading to the airport

(in the middle is Sister Elms, her MTC companion)

 

Happy sister missionaries!

 

Thursday, November 13, 2014
Re:  Week One - Check!

First of all, I want you to know that I love you all so much! And I miss you too! You are all amazing and I would not be here in the MTC having just completed my first week without you. Thank you for your wonderful examples, your prayers, and your faith in me. So let's get started!!

After you dropped me off one of the first people I saw was Sister Stucki who was the Bishop's wife in the singles ward. She recognized me and gave me a huge hug! It was so nice to see a familiar face right as I was entering the MTC. I then got my name tags, books (I saw Sis. Peterson and she gave me a big hug - a sister in Brady’s home ward who works at the MTC), and then was taken to my dorm. After that I went to my classroom and the day began. Instead of boring you with all the little details I am going to tell you about my favorite part of the first day. All the new missionaries met with the MTC Presidency and had an orientation. One of the songs we sang was "We'll Bring the World His Truth." However, they changed the words from "we will be the Lord's missionaries" to "we are NOW the Lord's missionaries." The Spirit was so strong! It still didn't seem real that I am serving a mission for the Lord! It was incredible and so powerful....I can't wait for Camden and Dayton to experience it.

So far the MTC has been amazing! I honestly don't want to leave...I am my daddy's daughter. :) The food is really good and I have just gotten to a point where I will eat whatever. I usually get something different at every meal but I also always get fruit or a salad with each meal. I am so grateful for the Lord's tender mercies because I haven't had any stomach problems. I try to eat right and exercise. So far, so good. Oh, random question: Mom and Dad, when you worked at the MTC were you over the cleaning service the missionaries do? So I was talking to this guy who was telling us our cleaning assignment and he overheard me telling the other sisters that you both met at the MTC in this department. He thought that was weird because he is now engaged to a girl who also works in the cleaning department. Apparently the MTC is a great place to find your future spouse! Who would have thought? Yes, Brady’s parents met at the MTC working as Celestial Service Supervisors – they fell in love and are still in love 22 years later!

Guess what? On Sunday Sister Elms and I were asked to be Sister Training Leaders. They are equivalent to Zone Leaders so our job is to take care of the sisters in our district and zone. Our zone and branch consists of two districts. We got to welcome the new district last night and it was great! They are wonderful and I am so excited for all the experiences they will have! One of the biggest things I have learned is how important it is to serve. There have been times this week that I have been in a bad mood or been really frustrated with something, but then I think of what I can do to serve Sister Elms or someone else in my district. Even in my personal study I am constantly thinking about what I can do to help our investigators. When you go into personal study and companionship study with that mind set it is amazing what you can find. I have found scriptures that have helped Sis. Elms and I in our teaching and have really helped our investigators. Speaking of investigators, we are having a lot of success. We have three right now. Our first one is Chad. He is a real person but it is just a role play between our teacher Brother Bishop and us. Chad is one of Brother Bishop's friends and he acts as him. You would think it would be hard to really teach since you know it is Brother Bishop, but it isn't like that all. Sis. Elms and I completely view him as Chad. We have connected really well with him and he has the desire to come closer to Christ. He is reading the Book of Mormon, praying, and we have invited him to come to church with us. We taught a lesson earlier in the week and had another teacher sit in and be a "ghost" during the lesson so she could tell us after how we could improve. Afterwards, she asked "Chad" what we could have done better and he said nothing! She told us that we taught so well and taught with the Spirit that it did not seem like it was only our third lesson. Somehow we have been able to really connect as a companionship, with the Holy Ghost, and with our investigators. I felt so good after that experience!!! But then of course we have tried really hard to stay humble because it is not us testifying of this gospel, but it is the Spirit. A lesson cannot be taught unless the Spirit is there. As missionaries we are only guides for our investigators. The only way they can know for themselves if the church is true is by using the tools we give them: scripture study, prayer, etc. When the Spirit is there, it is possible to accomplish anything! 

Our other investigator is Patty (she is a real investigator). She is incredible! Let's be real....our first lesson with her was rough. She had so many questions and we tried so hard to answer them but we were jumping all over carnation. We also forgot to open the lesson with a prayer which did not help. The Spirit wasn't there and there was no structure. We have improved so much since then though. We have really connected with her and we invited her to commit to being baptized. She said yes. She told us that is the direction she wants to take her life. It was amazing! I would not be having much success though if Sis. Elms wasn't my companion. She is incredible. She is so insightful and is willing to work hard. We are so goofy together and have so much fun but also know when it is time to be serious and Spiritual. I love her to pieces!!!! I will also send you some pictures. 

I just want to tell you how amazing the Elders are. There really is a lot of strength in their Spirits and hearts. The Elders in my district are wonderful. We have so many inside jokes and get along really well. When we had first got here, one of the Elders said something that really struck me. He said the reason why he is on a mission is because he is not giving the Lord two years, but the Lord is giving him the rest of his life. When you think about it that way 18 months is nothing. Actually it is already going too fast! Everyone said it would go slow but it is flying! The days are definitely long and it is hard to sit in a seat for 9 hours straight, but it is wonderful. Before we know it we will be heading to Mississippi! Oh and guess what? We have to leave the MTC at 3am in the morning. Lucky us! Haha.....it will be rough on Tuesday but that is ok. Well, I have to go check my laundry but I will send another email hopefully in a few minutes or a little bit later to finish my thoughts. :)

Today I auditioned to play in one of the MTC devotionals or meetings. I played "If You Could Hie to Kolob." It was pretty good. I only had time to run through it once before I played. Sister Nally, the MTC President's wife, was the one doing the auditions. Unfortunately my song was too long (I didn't realize there was a time limit) but she said she would put me down for a yes as long as I got it down to 4:30 minutes. So Sis. Elms timed me and I cut some stuff out to make it shorter. Sis. Nally said since I leave Monday there isn't a guarantee I will get to play so that if I don't get to play they still love me. I am completely fine either way. I am just glad I auditioned.

Thanks for the emails from all of you. I just saw Cam sent me an email. :) I love you all so much! Next time I talk to you I will be at the airport. So I will probably call around 6:30am on Monday (at least that is what I hope so I can talk to Cam before he goes to school). My flight doesn't leave until 8 or 8:30am and I am going to buy a phone card here so it will be easy to call. Dad, I think I can just call on your cell phone if you are heading to work. Well, I love you all so much!!! Thanks for letting me serve a mission and please let me know if I can do anything for you!!!! Take care and next time I write I will be in Mississippi!!!!!!!!!!! Love you!

Love, Sister Fry

Called to Serve

Brady received her mission call for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on August 13, 2014.  She was called to serve in the Mississippi Jackson Mission and she reported to the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, on November 5, 2014.  While she is away serving the Lord and the wonderful people of the South, her family will keep her blog updated weekly. 

She is hoping to use her music as a tool to touch the lives of those she comes in contact with -- music is a universal language and since Mississippi is the birthplace of American music maybe music can touch the hearts of those she teaches if her words don't :)

A special thanks to all of those who love her and support her in all of her adventures!  As parents we appreciate all those who have touched her life and contributed to the amazing young woman she is becoming.

Here's to the beginning of the next 18 months!  Yeehaw y'all!

With love,

Brent and Heather Fry

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted! This semester has been very busy but wonderful at the same time! I am going to try to start from the beginning and list everything I have been doing and working on since January.

-First, I have officially started teaching in the Youth Conservatory. I teach a boy who is about 7 years old. He is a beginner so I am the lucky one who gets to introduce the piano to him! He is progressing very quickly and really enjoys it. The YC is a great program that makes it so we can become better teachers. It is helpful being able to learn a lot of material on how to teach and apply it immediately. I also assist with the YC beginning piano group class. There are about eight kids who are of the ages of 4,5, and 6. We do activities with them, sing songs, play the piano, and teach them everything a beginning student would learn. It is a lot of fun and the kids say the funniest things!

-Second, USU puts on a special piano festival every year called Wassermann Festival. There are four famous pianists from around the world coming and performing in our performance hall. It is an incredible opportunity we have here! Last weekend they had auditions for people to play in one of the four master classes for the festival. I get to play a Mozart Sonata in the master class this coming week. I am so thrilled for this opportunity! I will definitely let everyone know how it goes.

-This semester I have a lot of material to work on, but I have really struggled figuring out how to balance it all. As of right now I have been working on a Mozart Sonata, Schumann Fantasy Pieces, and I am hoping to get to a Beethoven Sonata, Rachmaninoff Transcription of a Violin Partita, and Saint-Seans Concerto No. 2 Mvt. 2. It is a lot of material and I am just realizing I need to buckle down and get to work!

School is going pretty well. Classes are definitely more challenging but also more rewarding. I am just staying busy at school and trying to do the best I can. Thanks for all your love and support!