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

 

Let it snow!

Hello family!

Guess what?? It is snowing here! Well, it is more like sleet, but it is sticking to the grass and the rooftops! So last week when we left the church, our car doors were totally iced shut and it took us a bit to get them open. And now I can officially say I have experienced freezing rain. We went to Walmart and then when we got home the STLs called and said they didn't want us out driving in the weather so we just stayed in on Monday night. It has been really cold down here this past week and has been raining but we didn't have freezing rain until today! So most likely we will end up staying in tonight. Also, Sis. Boehula has been sick most of the week so we have been in for the majority of it.

So I have decided that something is wrong with me. Either I am sick or my companion is sick! Sis. Boehula has been having a lot of stomach pain this week. She has struggled with the food here most of her mission and so she doesn't eat a lot and has developed not the best diet. We talked to the mission nurse and she told her she needs to be eating fruit, vegetables, and try to not drink or eat any dairy. So we went to the store and bought a lot of healthy food and hopefully within the next week we will be able to figure out what is wrong. We have pretty much been in the entire week. It has been incredibly hard. I am trying so hard to be patient and know there is a reason for all this, but I have just been inside too much. But at the same time I don't want to push Sis. Boehula at all because I know how rough it is to go out and do work when you aren't feeling well.

We did go up to Cleveland this week though and we went to Institute and then on Thursday we met with some less actives. Remember me telling you about Sis. Walters last week? Well, she called us Thursday morning and asked if she could take us out to lunch. We went to a little cafe called The Starving Musician Cafe. Love it! Holy cow did she spoil us! We got sandwiches, salads, and LOTS of pastries! Then she took us shopping in some cute little boutiques on main street and let's just say she was incredibly generous in getting us some souvenirs. She truly is a sweetheart and on top of that she just has the greatest spirit about her! Oh I hope her and her family come back to church! 

Since we were in so much I got a lot of studying done. One talk that I absolutely love and highly recommend reading or listening to if you haven't already is "His Grace is Sufficient" by Brad Wilcox. Truly an incredible talk! He gives a very simple explanation of what grace is and what our job is while we are here on earth. I read it a few years ago in seminary and then have listened to it a few times since I've been out here. It has helped me to understand our Savior's Atonement. I also had the chance to read through the Articles of Faith https://www.lds.org/scriptures/pgp/a-of-f/1?lang=eng. It is interesting reading through them after everything I have learned over these last few months. They mean so much more. They are so simple, straight forward, and full of truth. The Articles of Faith very clearly explain what we believe. This is why we are told to memorize them while we are in primary! This is Christ's true church! 

I was reading in 1 Nephi 16:28 the other day and it says, "And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the pointers which were in the ball, that they did work according to the faith and diligence and heed which we did give unto them." This scripture really stood out to me because it made me think that when we have faith and are diligent our Heavenly Father will show us the way that we need to go. One way He shows us is through our Patriarchal Blessings. If we are faithful to our Heavenly Father and Savior then the things in our Patriarchal Blessings will come true and we will be guided throughout our life. I know that if I put my faith in the Lord, He will guide me. 

Well, that's about it for this week. Lots of stress with sickness and not being able to do missionary work, but I am trying to hang on. I love you all! Thanks for being incredible examples to me!

Love, Sister Fry

14 Books of Mormon!

Sister Fry, investigators, and Sister Boehula



 

Hello family,

 

This week was a great week! Sis. Boehula and I got down to business to defeat the huns! (family joke referring to song from Mulan) Huah! I am just going to go through each day. 

 

Wednesday - We went to St. Vincent's in the morning and then had DDM (district meeting) right after that. Greenwood got changed so now we are the only set of sisters in our district. It went surprisingly fast without all the other crazy sisters! Ha! In the afternoon we went tracting and contacted a referral. We ended up giving the referral a Book of Mormon and she is now a new investigator. In the evening we had correlation and then drove to Cleveland with the Morrills. Can I just say that it is pretty stressful leading the area? I feel very confident in it, but there is just a lot more I have to think about. My mind is always going!

 

Thursday - Awesome day! We went to Sis. Solomon's in the morning where we had breakfast and did our studies. Sweet Sis. Solomon gave us some money to buy lunch. We had lunch on Delta State campus and then met with Al who is a less active, but he is becoming way more active and his family is planning on getting sealed in March!! He is such an amazing kid! We talked about the Priesthood with him and committed him to prepare to use his Priesthood and learn how to pass the sacrament. Then we went tracting with Hannah, taught her a lesson, and then went on splits with Brooklyne and Hannah. We found several potentials and have a few appointments for this Thursday! Woohoo! Then in the evening we went with Sis. Solomon to see a less active sister Ruleville. Oh my goodness!!! Her name is Jennifer, her husband is a doctor, and she has the most gorgeous house I have ever seen!! As soon as we got there she gave us cookies that she had made, made us hot chocolate and told us to make ourselves right at home! Her husband served a mission, she is a convert, and they were married in the temple. It has just been within these last two years that they haven't been coming to church. So sad. :( She is a wonderful lady and she let me play her grand piano. :) Right before we left she gave us a tour of her house because they had just finished remodeling it. Their master bedroom has a toilet that is motion sensored and the lid comes up when you walk by it. The toilet seat is heated, warm air blows at your feet, and it has Bluetooth so you can listen to music while you are doing your business! She said she got it for her birthday....haha! Then we went out to eat with Sis. Solomon and her husband and they drove us home. I truly love Sis. Solomon with all my heart! She is such an incredible woman and is so dedicated to the work of the Lord. I know I can always turn to her for anything. :)

 

Friday - I went to my doctor appointment. For the rest of the day we had an intense weekly planning session, did some tracting, and were supposed to have a lesson with Jackie, but then she bailed on us. Kind of frustrating....

 

Saturday - We woke up at 5am and went to help our ward with the Greenville Marathon! So much fun! We went with Sis. Hughes and helped set up the signs, the water, the tent, etc. It was a great way to bond with the ward and do service at the same time. We were there until about noon and then we went home and took a nap because we were so tired. After that we met with Cynthia (who is a recent convert - she was baptized in California) and her husband Steve. It was wonderful! We got to answer some of Steve's questions and then we committed them to come to church. I absolutely love Cynthia! I am sad because they are moving to Arizona in a week, but it will be a good change for them. We had a great time tracting in the evening! Cool experience - we needed some more Books of Mormon so we decided to walk back to our car and do our last 10 minutes of tracting right by our car. As we were walking back, we noticed an older gentleman just hanging out under his carport. I waved to him, but then we kept walking. As soon as we passed the house I felt like we needed to go back and talk to him. So I said that to Sis. Boehula and immediately she turned around - she had felt the same thing. We went back, talked with him, shared a message, gave him a Book of Mormon, and set a return appointment. The Spirit is real! It is always the coolest thing when I have a thought and then my companion has the exact same thought. Talk about companionship unity. :) 

 

To finish our Valentine's Day we passed out cards while walking through Walmart, grabbed some Wendy's and ate our dinner while we watched Legacy (since that is as close to a chick-flick as we can get :)). 

 

Sunday - We had ward council at 8am and then church. Guess what? Cynthia and Steve came! It was so great! I was so excited they finally made it! We knew Cynthia was going to come, but we weren't sure about Steve. Steve didn't like it so much since we don't clap or sing praises or anything....kind of funny. In Relief Society we had a great lesson out of the Ezra Taft Benson book. It was on finding joy even when you are going through trials. A scripture that I really liked was D&C 121:7-8: "My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity shall be but a small moment; And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes." I love this because it truly does bring peace to my soul. Things have been hard lately, but I know that our afflictions will be only a small moment, especially when we think about eternity. We then read through the last verse of Scatter Sunshine. Read the hymns! There is so much truth that you can receive by reading the hymns!

 

After church we had a memorial service for a member of the ward who passed away from cancer. He was only 39 years old. It was a beautiful service. I played the piano for it which was neat. We got to have some food they were serving and then we went tracting. We tracted into a Jehovah's Witness couple and their friends. They invited us in and they were really nice. The entire time I felt at peace, I felt like I was able to answer their questions and my testimony of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints grew. We then went to the Turley's for dinner and had a good lesson with Dennell. 

 

At the end of the night we added up our numbers and we had gotten 7 hours of tracting and placed 14 Book of Mormons (the standard of excellence is 5). It really was a successful week because we planned well and were determined to reach our goals. Oh and guess what? The Elders ran into Jeremy who is Roneisha's boyfriend and he started to talk to them and said he read some of the Book of Mormon and got an answer that it is true! Hooray! We will hopefully meet with them this week! 

 

I am doing really well. I am super tired and my back hurts and I have bug bites up the wazoo, but I feel truly happy. I have learned so much while being out here. Sis. Boehula is a wonderful companion! She is a very hard worker! She is very quiet so we don't talk a ton, but it's alright. I have never truly understood how you can tell someone is humble until I heard Sis. Boehula pray. She gives the most sincere and meaningful prayers I have ever heard. It is pretty incredible. She has an incredible story. 

 

Alright, I hope I answered everybody's questions. There was a lot to talk about! Thank you for your love and support! I love you so much and know that I miss you everyday! 

 

Love, Sister Fry

 

2 Transfers Down

Hello family!

 

First off, I love you all and Happy Valentine's this week! Things are going well....my new companion is Sis. Boehula (pronounce boy-hula). She is from an island next to Australia (the island nation Vanuatu, languages Bislama and French) and she learned English in the MTC. She has been out for almost a year and truly is the sweetest person ever! She is really quiet, but is actually pretty chatty with me so I am certain we will be best friends! It was really hard to see Sis. White go, but I know that it will be a good change for both of us. She will always be my mission mom. :) She cried a lot as she was saying bye...so hard! 

 

Yesterday was Pre-Transfer Day of Service. We cleaned the apartment, got Sis. White packed, cleaned the car (which was a nightmare - silly car washes), taught two lessons, and had lots of people call us. I am pooped! But you have no idea how excited I am to have Sis. Boehula and to really get down to business! I am feeling a lot better and am ready to get physically, spiritually, and emotionally healthy. Sis. Boehula really likes sports so hopefully she will be good at keeping me active. :) 

 

I finished the Book of Mormon this week! It is such a true book! I know that it is true with all my heart and that our Savior really did come to the people in the Americas. The Book of Mormon truly is a second witness of Jesus Christ. I love it!

 

Also, yesterday Jackie called us. She is one of our investigators who literally fell of the face of the planet this transfer. We heart-attacked her door, called her, texted her and didn't hear back until yesterday. She has really been going through a hard time and has been struggling with depression and finances. Please pray for her. She knows this church is true, but I think she is hesitant to get baptized because she isn't in a stable situation right now and isn't super happy. We will hopefully be able to figure things out with her this Friday. 

 

This week is going to be a great week! Sorry this email is so short, but just know that I am hanging in there.  I love y'all so much! I will give more detail next week. :) Love you!

Love, Sister Fry

Miracles!

Hey family!

First things first: I am alive! It has been amazing reading everyone's emails and seeing how your faith has grown because mine definitely has. It was incredible being able to be the recipient of prayers and fasting. Not only was I blessed to return back to good health, but all of you were blessed because of your faith. So, thank you family and friends for your faith on my behalf. Honestly, I felt like I was just being a baby over these last few weeks, but comparing myself to how I feel now and how I felt then, I was really sick. On Tuesday I started to feel a lot better.  (Sister Fry endured a myriad of xrays, labs, medications, tests, and doctors, culminating in a CT scan to confirm the need for a procedure, or possible surgery, since doctors were concerned about an intestinal blockage or gall stones.  The CT scan was completed about 24 hours after most closed their fasts on Brady’s behalf.  The scan results were normal and after an over the counter prescription of miralax was prescribed, all of Sister Fry’s symptoms of chest pain, muscle spasms, and intestinal difficulties subsided.  Miracles are real!  Thank you all so much for your faith, love, fasting, and prayers!)

I honestly wish I could express in words how much I have grown this week. This last week was one of the longest weeks of my mission and also the most spiritually, physically, mentally, and emotionally draining as well as the most rewarding. Let's see, where to start. Wednesday and Thursday were hard. We were stressed and unsure of where to begin. I was feeling better, but we were so out of the habit of doing work that we were struggling to push ourselves to get going. I truly felt like I wouldn't be able to pull through, but I now can promise you though that the Lord is aware of his children. 

On Thursday I was really struggling getting back into the groove of missionary work.  As soon as I had that thought, President called to see how I was doing. The timing could not have been more perfect. I know that the Lord was so aware of me that he prompted President McDonough to call me. 

Thursday still continued to be hard, but we had a ward Relief Society activity that night and I couldn't help but hear Mom saying in the back of my head, "Find a mom in Mississippi." Going to the activity really helped because I was surrounded by all the sisters in the ward who I look up to. I love them all so much. That night, one of the activities we did was a puzzle (I am sending it home so you can see it). Sister Morrill talked about overcoming trials in our lives - exactly what I needed to hear. It was incredible how the Lord blessed me with being able to go to that activity because it completely changed me. 

Friday was a FANTASTIC day!! It was the first day we woke up on time, did our studies, and did weekly planning. It felt so great! I was a little stressed because the STLs (Sister Training Leaders) were coming that day for exchanges and we were nervous about having to pull ourselves together. But I can tell you that these exchanges changed my life. As I keep reading back over my email it seems like I am being SUPER dramatic....sorry about that. :) I guess it was a dramatic week! Anyway, I know that the Spirit is real! Our STLs are Sis. White and Sis. Dagupan. Sis. White was in our district last transfer and I just love her so much! But apparently the plan was for me to go out with Sis. D so I was nervous about that. When they got here they said on Friday I would go out with Sis. White and then Saturday I would go out with Sis. D. Sis. White (STL) and I left and she started asking me how I was doing. I completely broke down. We pulled into a parking lot and talked for a while. There were many things I was struggling with that I needed guidance on. Sis. White told me that originally I was supposed to go with Sis. D, but Sis. D really felt like I needed to go to Sis. White. I am so grateful for the Spirit! It turned out that Sis. White was really able to help me through some things. The Lord blessed us during the rest of the day. We were able to finally meet with one of our investigators, Harold. We recommitted him to a new baptismal date, introduced the Book of Mormon, and briefly explained the importance of not smoking. He said he would come to church and we were able to find a ride for him. Sis. White and I were able to get tracting done, find several new investigators, and meet with a less active family. It felt so good to get back out and do work! 

On Saturday I went out with Sis. Dagupan and it was also awesome! Guess what? Sis. D went to BYU Hawaii for two years and she knows where we lived! (We lived in Hawaii when Brady was in elementary school.) We talked about what has changed since I have been there and things that we loved about Laie. She also went to college bunch of people who went to Lone Peak (Brady’s high school). Such a small world! Sis. D and I also had a lot of success with handing out Books of Mormon, finding investigators, and teaching lessons. But, we had the most heart breaking lesson. So, Sis. White (my actual comp) and I have been meeting with a mother, Emma, and her daughter, Veronica. I absolutely love these two! They have so much faith and I have truly enjoyed going to their home! But, on Saturday, Sis. D and I decided to bring up the Restoration (Emma is very faithful to her church and has been baptized in her church). I have never been so bold in my life. We talked about the Spirit, prophets, the apostasy, Joseph Smith, and the Book of Mormon. The Spirit was SO strong and very boldly I invited them to be baptized. Emma was not pleased. Even though I know she felt the Spirit, she refused to read the Book of Mormon and know for herself if what we were telling her was true. She made it clear she had already been baptized. We tried every angle we could to explain to her that it is only in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that you can find the priesthood authority of God. I truly know that and it broke my heart to see Emma fight it so hard. In the end, I told her that if she decided to read the Book of Mormon or watch a movie that we had given her that we would be more than happy to come back. We would visit them every once in a while, but if they weren't willing to find out for themselves and give it a chance then we would need to move on to other people. Completely broke my heart. As we left, Sis. D reassured me though and said that I literally did everything I could in that lesson. That made me feel good. :)

Alright, on Sunday Dennell got baptized! He is the Elder's investigator, but Sis. White and I have gotten tight with him over these last several weeks. He works at St. Vincent's and he also goes to the Turley's each Sunday with us. I found out that his favorite cookie was oatmeal chocolate chip and I told him that I had an AWESOME recipe! He asked me if I would make cookies for his baptism! That was at the beginning of the week and on Saturday the Elders texted us to make sure I was still going to do that because Dennell had asked them if I would still do it. Made me feel so good! They also asked me to play a musical number and be the pianist. I played an arrangement of Joseph Smith's First Prayer. And the cookies turned out amazing! Just like my Mama's! I put some on the side to give Dennell later and I also gave him one of the temple cards. He is amazing and it has been so cool to see his testimony and his understanding grow over the last few weeks. 

Anywho, this week was great. I love the people. I love the work. I was so exhausted last night because we literally went from not doing much to three incredibly full days. But, it felt good. A scripture that I discovered this week from Sis. Dagupan is 3 Nephi 18:21, "Pray in your families unto the Father, always in my name, that your wives and your children may be blessed." I love this scripture. Oftentimes we don't understand the importance of praying together as a family and studying the gospel as a family. I am so grateful to you Mom and Dad for always making sure we have family prayer and family scripture study together. I know for a fact that because we did that it has helped our family stay close to each other and to the gospel. On Friday we went to see a less active/part-member family. They are so amazing! We met with Korninthia, the mom, and her daughter, Ariana. We talked about how important it is for us to have family prayer and scripture study each night. We read 3 Nephi 14:24-27 and sang the wise man and foolish man song with Ari and talked about how we need to build our foundation on Christ. We asked Ari (who is 6) to be in charge of gathering her family together each night for prayer and scriptures. It was a great lesson. I know that by doing these things families can be strengthened. 

I love each of you so much! Thank you for your prayers and support! I know this church is true! Have a great week!

Love, Sister Fry :)

 

From Sister Fry's Parents

Dearest Family and Friends of Sister Fry,

This week's letter from Sister Fry was very short and personal.  Doctors in her area have been trying to figure out why she is suffering from a variety of symptoms, causing her some severe health problems and consequently impeding her missionary work.  A variety of tests results conclude that her stomach is twice the size of what it should be when empty.  The distention of her stomach is contributing to chest pain (as her cute figure doesn't have extra room for extra stomach to go :) and she has also been blasted with muscle spasms in her back that are painful and limit her activities.  However, all tests run that may explain why her body is, at present, malfunctioning have returned normal.  While this is good news, it does not alleviate her present difficulties.

Needless to say, Sister Fry is struggling.  We humbly ask that, friends and family, please keep Sister Fry in your prayers this week and collectively join us in a fast on her behalf this Sunday, January 18, 2015.  We are so thankful to our Heavenly Father for her sweet spirit and her desire to serve a mission -- we know that our faith, together with yours, will strengthen her and buoy her up.

Much love always,

Brent and Heather

1st Transfer Slide Show

Rain, rain, go away...

Hello family!

It sounds like y'all had an awesome week! I am glad you had such a great turn out for New Year's Eve and that there were kids there! I bet it was a blast! On Christmas I didn't think too much about what y'all were doing, but on New Year's Eve I kept thinking that you were all having the party and wondering how it was going. On New Year's Eve we went to the church and did the fireworks with the Turleys. It was fun, but absolutely freezing! Then Sis. White and I were so determined to get our tracting done that we went tracting at 7pm and actually had a lot of success. We placed two Books of Mormon and got two new investigators which was our goal. I definitely have a strong testimony of night tracting!

On New Year's Day it poured. It's funny, but I kept forgetting it was New Year's Day so I kept trying to figure out why all the stores were closed as we were driving around. We got to tract in the glorious rain and the while tracting we found a lot of former investigators. We met this lady who was really old and had a lot of health problems, but she has so much faith and had one of our Book of Mormon cards on her fridge (a picture when Christ comes to the Americas). She even had once had a Book of Mormon, but she moved and lost it so we gave her another one. She was the sweetest lady. You never know the people you are going to find.

Friday was a rough day, but we ended up going tracting in the evening and found a lady who had a Book of Mormon and remembered when the missionaries would come to her house when she was a kid. She also was the first person in Mississippi, that we’ve come across, who actually has a piano! She said she is trying to learn to play. We taught her a lesson and said we would come back and play piano, but yesterday when we went back she didn't answer. We think she was sleeping because she works during the night. So exciting though! Hopefully I will get to play the piano for her some time.

Saturday was such a weird day. On Friday we noticed that our brakes were whistling, not squeaking, but whistling. So we called fleet and they said to take our car to the nearest Firestone. So on Saturday morning we drove to Cleveland (about an hour away) where they had a Firestone. We got there and they said it would be about 2-3 hours before they could get our car in. So, Sis. White and I went walking around Cleveland and did some tracting. It was POURING down rain. I have never been more soaked in my life. But while tracting we found a family that was really interested so that was exciting! We ended up tracting more and then had lunch with one of the young women at Papa John's. Then, Sis. White and I walked back to Firestone where we sat at a little kid's table and tried to do some studying. They did a full check of the car and when they were finished they said nothing was wrong with the car!!!!!! Honestly, we drove an hour for there to be nothing wrong with the car. But we knew there was a reason we were supposed to be in Cleveland. On Wednesday, my throat started to hurt really bad again and by the time I realized I needed to go to a doctor, it was on Friday night and nothing was open in Greenville on Saturday. But while in Cleveland, we asked Brooklyne (the young woman) to look up some clinics. It turns out there was an urgent care open in Ruleville just about 20 minutes away. We decided to go there and sat at the doctor for about 3 hours. Not only was my throat hurting, but my back was in a lot of pain and so was just chest (I think it was from stress). So they did a flu test, a blood test, and did an x-ray. Nothing was wrong with me, except that I had a huge gas bubble in my side. I don't understand! He said my throat is probably infected from drainage so he gave me a prescription for some medication. Hopefully it will get better because it has been pretty bad lately. Being at the doctor was great though because the nurse practitioner was hilarious and so were the nurses. We made a lot of friends while we were there since we are just so goofy. :) Basically we are hoping that the family we found is golden because clearly there was a reason we needed to be in Cleveland that day.

Yesterday was wonderful. I have definitely gained a love for Fast Sundays. I have been doing a lot better with fasting and have been trying to go for as long as I can. These last two Fast Sundays I have been more in tune with the Spirit and I have been getting a lot more out of church. I absolutely love our ward. I just felt so happy! And guess what???? We got over 7 hours of tracting!!!!! We are required to get 7 hours and this is the first week we did it! Woohoo!!! We also found two new investigators. One is a 19 year old girl who goes to Delta State (which is in Cleveland), but is home for the holidays. She is so interested and even when she goes back to school we will still get to teach her! Her little sister who is 7 also sat in on the lesson. So wonderful! I am definitely falling more in love with my mission. Each and every day I just love the people and the work more and more. I used to not like tracting at all, but now I love it! I love this church so much. The more I share the gospel the stronger my testimony gets and I realize that this gospel just makes sense. It is so true.

Kyah and her mom didn't come to church, but guess what? On Sunday nights we have what's called a cottage meeting at the Turley's. They feed us and the Elders and then we can have investigators come over to have a gospel lesson/discussion and we have dessert. And we texted Kyah right before to see if she could come and she came! And it turns out that she went to high school with the Turley's son. I love Kyah to pieces! It was the perfect night to have her there. We taught about the Plan of Salvation and then talked a little bit about temples and she just kept saying, "I need to go to a temple." I just have this feeling that she will get there. We have come into her life at a perfect time because she keeps telling us that her marriage is going through a rough spot. I just know that if she continues to study this gospel and come closer to Christ that everything will work out. She is such an amazing woman, mother, and wife. I am so excited for her to one day go to the temple!

It really was an awesome week. Sis. White and I just laugh all the time. It is amazing all the funny things you see! I saw a lady walking her cat (it was on a leash). There was a lady in the car next to us one time that had INSANELY long nails! While tracting we saw this little kid being chased by his little puppy in the front yard. So cute! Mississippi is just the craziest place. I have truly come to enjoy the little things in life. I am so glad y'all are doing well. I got a lot of Christmas cards and gifts (from Aunt Libby, Aunt Carolyn, and cards from people in the ward). I haven't written them so please thank them for me because I appreciate it so much! I love you all to pieces!

Love, Sister Fry

Happy New Year!

Kissing a crawdad!

Six weeks ago I was exhausted, dazed, excited, nervous, and ready to start on my crazy 18 month journey. I have made through one whole transfer! Woohoo! Seriously though, it does go by fast. It seems like I just got to Mississippi and now I am a true Greenville-ian!

Sis. White and I had a great weekly planning session on Saturday and since Sunday we have been getting up on time every day! We also went tracting for an hour today even though it was our P-day. Not trying to brag, but we were pretty proud of ourselves. ;) We are determined to get our 7 hours of tracting this week! Yesterday we had a fantastic day! It was Pre-Transfer Day of Service so we had the wonderful opportunity of deep cleaning our apartment and our car. It felt so good! Everything is clean and we also were able to update the area book. We are on a roll! We also taught some incredible lessons last night! So last night Bro. Johns, our ward mission leader, came out with us. We first went to go see a potential that we had a return appointment with, but when we got there he wasn't feeling well so we ended up teaching the guy who answered the door. His name is Harold and he is a very nice and quiet man. We taught him part of the Plan of Salvation and committed him to baptism! It was so perfect having Bro. Johns there. Don't ever forget the impact you can have as members.

Then we went and taught Toni and her husband. I don't think I have mentioned them. We met Toni while tracting.....she was coming out of her garage and we accidentally scared her, but she still let us come in and share a Christmas message with her! We met with her and her husband two Mondays ago and taught the whole Restoration. Her husband, Alvester, is very religious and very faithful, but to our surprise he listens to our lessons. They are so golden! Last night we reviewed the Restoration and they both said they would study the Book of Mormon. I just pray that they will know it is true. They are such a strong family. We need them in our ward and in our church. We meet with them next Monday so we will see what happens!

We finished off the evening with going to see Kyah. Oh my goodness! I just love Kyah and her mom to pieces! None of our investigators have been coming to church....that is the hardest thing here. But the first thing Kyah and Rose told us when we got there was that they are going to make it to church. They have been busy with the holidays. I just can't get over the Spirit that is in their home. Kyah and Rose both always light up when we see them. I know that when they come to church the ward will just eat them up. :)

On Sunday I was the ward pianist! Bro. Johns called right before church and asked if I could play the organ in sacrament meeting. To be honest, even though I have kind of been taught to play the organ, I had no idea what I was doing. It was rough, but I survived! I am actually going to practice the organ when I am done emailing. I also got to play the piano in primary! It made my day getting to be with the little kids.

Oh guess what? So on Sunday before we went tracting we said a prayer and Sis. White prayed that we would find a couple who will one day prepare to make temple covenants. Well, we knocked on a door and an older man answered and we asked if we could share a message with him. He hesitated but eventually let us in. We started to talk to him and his wife and (because of the Spirit) our message took an unexpected turn towards temples. We started telling them about how we have temples on earth today and that through the power of God we can be sealed with our families for eternity. We barely got through anything then the wife needed to go. We made a return appointment at a time they could both be there.  Perfect! So we left and a while later as we were walking down the street the wife pulled over in her car and asked us a question about temples and said she would see us on Wednesday. Holy cow! We totally made her think and then left a cliff hanger! Our prayer was completely answered! We are going to have Amy Turley, a member of the ward who was recently married in the temple, go with us.  So pumped! I hope all goes well.

Keep working hard, keep studying the scriptures, and keep laughing! Oh and guess what again? Today we went to the Jim Henson Museum! He is the guy who created the Muppets! SO COOL!! It was so much fun. I will send pictures. :) I love y'all SO MUCH!!!!

 

Love, Sister Fry

 

Sister Fry at the Jim Henson Museum