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