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

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