Wk# 50: THE LIFE.

What an adventure filled week!!!

Saturday night we went with Tira to get snow cones on Lake Ella. I haven't had a snow cone my entire mission... they don't have them here! But this place was crazy!! It had over 70 flavors, so many toppings, and it was SO GOOD. It was WAY fun! Then we played ultimate Frisbee as a district which is always fun!

Monday morning started out with some awesome lessons and a new investigator named Fabrice from West Africa. He's got a really strong french accent, so it's a little difficult to understand him, but he's super awesome! After lunch we packed our bags and headed on a road trip to help with an Emergency Transfer....

HELLO ALABAMA!!! 

You guys. I LOVE BAMA. I hope to serve there one day! We got to take cute Sister Brandt down to Fairhope, AL and it was SUCH a fun road trip! The drive was gorgeous!

We spent the night in the Fairhope apartment, and it is the cutest apartment I have ever seen. Not to mention, the couch was the size of a full size bed and felt like HEAVEN. 

We up and left early Tuesday morning to get back to Tally at a decent time (it's a 4ish hour drive, so not too bad) and on our way home we made some fun little pit stops! What a better way to spend my 11 month birthday! We went to some pretty redneck southern souvenier shops, and had some good food breaks!

and YUP. I've been out 11 months! WWHHAATT.

Anyway, it was SO much fun, and I am so grateful that I was given the opportunity to see the mission! We ended up driving through most of it!  Sister Wood and I had a great time, and laughed lots and lots. Great memories were made! 

On Wednesday we got to go into one of the college classes and do a presentation on Family History. It was super cool! Then we had a Specialized Zone Training with President and Sister Smith. Sister Wood and I had the opportunity to teach at that, and it was a really good experience. We trained on Family History and what tools Family Search has to offer! The Zone Training was focused on Family History and "Opportunity Generation Next."

I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS.

(I can't remember if I've talked about this in an email already... so if I have, I apologize.)

We have received council from Elder Nielson (who came and toured our mission) to implement a new form of missionary work. It has only been done in the Philippines, and they saw incredible success. This has never been done in the States before! We are taking the focus off of baptism, and putting it on the temple. We will now focus on reactivation! Our goal is to make the church here in the south strong. By doing so, we reach a new pool of potential investigators! By going through the less active members, we will find more people to teach and baptize, while reactivating members. 

I am SUPER pumped about this. The spirit has definitely testified that this is the key to unlocking the south! It's going to be awesome. 

To reactivate members, we will be using family history, which brings me to the next incredible thing.

President and Sister Smith, as well as the office elders, have spent countless hours working on something that no other mission has ever had! We are the first in the world to take this approach and use this. They have designed and created a Family History Pamphlet, just like the Restoration, Plan of Salvation, Gospel of Jesus Christ, etc pamphlets that we use to teach! It teaches the doctrine of Family History and transitions into the Restoration! IT'S AMAZING. 

Heavenly Father is definitely hastening the work here right now! We have so many new incredible tools to use! BLESSINGS!!!

Wednesday night we also got to teach Dena! I LOVE HER. She is definitely progressing, and we are still praying for October 10th as her baptism day!! Man, she is incredible.

We ate at a member's home that night as well and had Pork Chops. YYUUMMMM. I love eating normal food!

Thursday we taught lots of lessons and then I went to Crawfordville, FL on an exchange until last night! It was super fun, and we got to ride bikes! I haven't ridden a bike since I was in Callaway. Do I want to chop my legs off? You better believe it! It was way good though, and the weather was gorgeous! I also saw the most disgusting bugs there. I gagged. Yep. Gagged. 

And tonight is the General Woman's Broadcast! I AM SO EXCITED! I can't believe General Conference is already here. I also can't believe that Elder Scott passed away! It's going to be a very eventful conference! 

Robert D. Hales once said, "There has always been a desperate need for the steady and reassuring voice of a living prophet of God: one who will speak the mind and will of God in showing the way to spiritual safety and personal peace and happiness...A characteristic of prophets throughout the ages is that, regardless of the consequences, they have had the strength to speak the words of God with plainness and boldness...With the restoration of the priesthood in 1829, there was a restoration of prophets in this dispensation. Living prophets are leading this church today. The greatest security of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints comes from learning to listen to and obey the words and commandments that the Lord has given through living prophets. I would hope that the world would understand the importance of having a living prophet on earth today...If we listen to the prophets of this day, poverty would be replaced with loving care for the poor and needy. Many serious and deadly health problems would be avoided through compliance with the Word of Wisdom and the laws of sexual purity. Payment of tithing would bless us, and we would have sufficient for our needs. If we follow the counsel given by the prophets, we can have a life in mortality where we do not bring upon ourselves unnecessary pain and self-destruction. This does not mean we will not have challenges. We will. This does not mean we will not be tested. We will, for this is part of our purpose on earth. But if we will listen to the counsel of our prophet, we will become stronger and be able to withstand the tests of mortality. We will have hope and joy. All the words of counsel from the prophets of all generations have been given so that we may be strengthened and then be able to lift and strengthen others...Our spiritual safety lies in turning to the clear voice of our living prophet. If we listen to his voice and obey his counsel, we will be able to live as Christ would have us live and endure to the end so that one day we, along with our families, will return back into the presence of our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ."

I hope and pray that we can heed to the council of the leaders of this beautiful church, for how blessed are we to have the church that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, established. 

I love this gospel, and I love President Thomas S. Monson. I know he is indeed the living prophet in these latter days. I support him, I believe in him, and I follow him. 

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/inspirational-playlists?lang=eng

I love you all so much, and I truly am grateful for each one of you!

All my love!

Sister Holmes

Also... My next P-Day will be Monday October 5th, due to General Conference that weekend :)

 

Wks # 33 & 34: Two Weeks Worth of Awesome

I don't even know where to start today!!

Since our emails didn't work last week, here are the highlights of the last two weeks. And let me tell ya, they are awesome.

+While walking to go contact, we noticed Wendy's had a sign for free frosty's... HELLO FREE FROSTY! What better way to celebrate memorial day than with free ice cream?!

+We had Zone Training last week and it was so good. I love getting together with the zone. Our Zone Leaders are amazing as well. They had two recent converts from our ward come and talk to us about their conversion and answer any questions we had. I learned SO much and the spirit was so strong!

+We met a guy, Taylor, and started teaching him. He is super awesome. He is preparing to be baptized in another church right now, but we've had some pretty spiritual lessons with him, so we are praying he recognizes this as the one and only true church!

+We invited a guy to institute that we had kind of met.. (We met his mom and his mom tried to set us up on dates with her sons. Gotta love moms in the south! So we got his number and invited him to institute because he was interested in learning about the gospel...) He came. talked to us for about 3 minutes, then started scoping out the girls. Then told us he wasn't interested in learning.. or in the girls anymore. haha

+ We "met our match" this week. I still don't know what that means, and I even asked the guy that told us that what it meant, and he used some explicit language to tell us that he was really awesome, and then got EXTREMELY emotional because "this is just such a beautiful moment and I never want to let it go!" He was 59. I love being a missionary. haha

+ We taught some INCREDIBLE lessons this week! Working on campus is the best. So many prepared people. Well... so many people period! I have never loved being a missionary more. I've really started to understand how to serve here, and it is SUCH a blessing! I have learned so much. I hope I get to stay here! (Transfers are on wednesday....)

+ We got caught in the CRAZIEST THUNDERSTORM. I was terrified and loving my life all at the same time. Of course, we were walking to campus. :) I didn't know thunder could sound like it did, and it looked like we were in a hurricane. It was so awesome! Gotta love contacting in the rain! Good thing we brought an umbrella!

*** Now. I have saved the best for last, and bear with me as I tell you this story. Also, I apologize for this being a lengthy email, but this story HAS to be told, because... of course this would happen to me.

While walking around campus, we stopped to take a bathroom break in the Student Union Square. We were out contacting before our lesson that was in 30 minutes. We had used this bathroom before, and knew it was clean, so we headed inside. It is a two stall bathroom, so pretty small. We were the only two people in there and we didn't want to bring all of our things into the stalls with us, so we decided to leave them on the counter. "It'll be safe, right?" As we discussed it for a second, we noticed that there was a lock on the bathroom door. I had the bright idea to lock the door so we could ensure our stuff would be okay! So, we locked it (it had been locked before on a previous day by Sister Mathison) and went on to do our business. I finished first and told Sister Rindlisbacher that I was going to unlock the door since I could see our stuff. I get to the lock and turn it... and turn it... and turn it... It wasn't unlocking. "Um... Sister Rindlisbacher?.. I think we are locked in the bathroom..." She comes out and tries to unlock it, and in a moment of panic, we realized we were trapped in a two stall bathroom. No windows, no air, and BARELY any service. We about DIED laughing. So, after moments of panic, laughing, panic, laughing, we decided to say a prayer (weirdest thing I think I have ever prayed for) and decided to call someone. Do we call 911? Do we call the other sisters? Nope.. We call a NEW INVESTIGATOR. hahaha we met him one day (by the bathrooms surprisingly) in another building. He works as a janitor! So we decide to call him, thinking "he's GOT to know someone we can call." So, we call him. "Hey Kim! So... we have a question.." As we explain our situation, I am dying. (Kim is about 50ish, and we have taught him a couple times. We had taught him an hour previous to this phone call.) We had forgotten that he was a custodian at the police department on campus until he said "Oh yeah! Hold on, I'll let you talk to the officer." So, we go on to tell the officer our situation, explained which bathroom we were in, and waited. After a good 25 minutes, (we are SWEATING. it was SO HOT.) We decided we better call our next appointment and reschedule... that was also a weird conversation. Then, lo and behold, we here keys, and see the lock turn, and there is a police officer with a huge grin on his face, just chucklin away. I have never been so grateful in my whole life! On the bright side, I found a penny on the floor of the bathroom! :) haha

talk about a "Lexa Moment!"

So, that was my couple of weeks. Hot, humid, rainy, and full of adventures!

I love my life. hahaha

I also love Sister Rindlisbacher. Her and I = pretty much the same person. haha we laugh WAY to hard. :) I've definitely been blessed once again with one of the greatest Sisters in the FTM.

I was also so sad to hear about the passing of Elder Perry. What a sweet, happy man! So, I'll leave you with his simple testimony of the Holy Ghost.

"I bear witness of the power and comfort the gift of the Holy Ghost is to those who live worthy of it. What a reassurance it is for us to know that we are not left alone to find the course that we must follow to merit the eternal blessings of our Father in Heaven. We do not need man-made rating systems to determine what we should read, what we should watch, what we should listen to, or how we should conduct our lives. What we do need to do is live worthy of the continued companionship of the Holy Ghost and have the courage to follow the promptings that come into our lives. May the Lord bless us that we may ever be mindful of this great and precious gift, even the gift of the Holy Ghost, I humbly pray in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen."

LOVE YA'LL!!!!!!!!!

Sister Holmes :)