Sister Kelly in the South: Sammy Is Solid!

This week has been realllly slow! We dropped Liz and had a really hard time getting in contact with any of our potential investigators. So we did A LOT of tracting this week.

Wednesday we had district meeting and then a member came and picked us up. Her name is sister Garrett. She took us to lunch and then we went back to her house and met with another member, Sister Edwards. Sister Edwards has gone through a lot of the less actives information and updated it and tried getting in contact with them. We talked about how we can help the ward be more effective in visiting these people and taking us to meet them. Then they let us teach them a practice lesson about life on earth. I love teaching! Even when they are members.

Thursday morning we went out tracting for 2 hours. and we talked to a lot of grumpy people! It was very frustrating. For lunch Sister Freeman came and picked us up. She is fabulous. Her and her husband have served 5 missions and do a lot for us. Whenever we need a ride somewhere we call them first and they are almost always able to. She feeds us a lot too and she is a great cook! She also invited a member who is somewhat active. Her name is Sister McCrary. She is a covert of about 9 years. we asked her what her favorite lesson was when she was taking the lessons and it was when they taught her about the spirit world. So that is what we taught her. I love the spirit that i can feel when we teach! It is amazing.

After lunch we went tracting again. Right before we had to finish we met a nice girl named Tyler. She has a little 6 month girl and she let us teach her. But when we went back the next day her grandpa was outside and told us she wasn't home. We don't know if that was true or not. He called us scam artists. We need to go back soon!

Friday we had a special thing happen. We went out that morning to teach and our appointment didn't answer the door. So we were trying some potentials and no one was home. I suggested we try a girl name Victoria that we had met about a month ago. She has a crazy work schedule and shouldn't have been home but we rode by and her car was outside so we went and knocked on her door. She was home! It was her birthday and had the day off. She was nice enough and let us in. After about 5 minutes her boyfriend showed up. We ended up teaching the both of them! Victoria had to work Sunday but we invited her boyfriend Jimmy. He said he would think about it. We got his number and told him we would call Saturday to remind him.

The afternoon was slow, once again. All of our appointments fell through and so we decided to ride our bikes around until we felt like we should stop. We went down this road that looked like it was just lined with trees and would lead to the highway. We got down to the end and that is when we had our tender mercy! At the end of that street we found another street that was full of houses and a section of project homes. I told sister Brog that Heavenly Father knew we wouldn't have ever found that area unless we had absolutely nothing else to do.

The rest of that night was pretty crazy! We needed to get to Texarkana because guess what... Sammy got baptized!!!!! and we were speaking. But we didn't have a car. The only people who could give us a ride could take us Friday night. So we had to call and get permission, pack, and get a hold of the sisters staying in Wake Village to let them know we were coming. We thankfully got it all figured out and made it to Wake Village.

Sammy borrowed Sister Gower's temple dress for her baptism.

Doesn't she just glow?!

Sammy's baptism was amazing. The spirit was so strong and it was so good to see the spirit in her. The elders did such a great job of teaching her. Plus she is just amazing! She finished reading the Book of Mormon about two weeks before her baptism. Her and Sister Gower (the member she is living with) decided that if Joseph Smith could translate the Book of Mormon in 40 days they could read it in 40 days. The read it in 11 days and finished it the night before her baptism. She also got to the point that when the elders went to teach her they didn't teach! She would teach them everything she knew about whatever topic they asked her to study. She is amazing i know she will stay strong in the gospel.

The Zone Leaders, with Sis Kelly, Sammy and Sis Brog

As she came out of the water she just started crying she was so happy. It was the best moment. It was so great to see all the changes she had to make and that she was able to do it! The atonement of Jesus Christ is truly amazing.

The rest of the day we spent tracting in the area we found the previous day. We met this nice couple and hope to start teaching them. We talked to probably 8 people (not really a lot but more then the rest of the week ha) and invited them all to our ward Christmas party this weekend. It is going to be a lot of fun!

For fast Sunday we fasted as a mission to have the faith and strength to reach 300 baptisms for the year. We need 42 this month! But i know if we work hard that we will be able to reach that goal.

We had the opportunity to teach primary about the sacrament. I love the primary children. They are so spiritual.

After church the Freemans gave us a ride and just invited us over for lunch. It was delicious as always but i ate so much i felt so sick haha That night we went to the Pierce's for dinner and celebration. Their 6 year old daughter, Gwyn, just finished reading the Book of Mormon all the way through! So we had cake and then went around and shared our testimonies of the Book of Mormon. It was a cool experience.

Celebration Cake

Cute Gabe...and Cute Erika ;)

Fun with the impressive Gwyn

I am so grateful for this amazing life i have to live. I am learning so much on my mission. I know that as we keep working hard the Lord will bless us. I just have to be patient and that is hard. But i know through the Atonement of Christ it is possible. Thank y'all for everything you do! Hope you have a Merry Christmas.

#sharethegift

christmas.mormon.org

Love you all!!

Sister Erika Kelly