I Love the South

Mardi Gras is coming

I Love the South

What the week! 

So sister Bills sprained her ankle the first transfer here and then my first week with her she fell again and restrained it. Well she called the nurse and she had to wear a boot. Well that meant that she can't ride a bike which meant that the elders wouldn't have the car for three weeks straight. And it would be the second time. Well president called and let us know that they are going to give us a car full time until her ankle is healed. Sounds good to me! 

So Tuesday night we went out with members of the ward council to visit less actives. It is a great thing we do once a month! I am really excited to be able to visit so many people and we are able to visit more people because we split up. We weren't able to get in contact with anyone:( but i know that the Lord will bless this ward for all the effort they put in. 

We didn't have the car at the time so we had a member drop us off. When we got up to our door the member had already left and we could not find our keys. It was so cold outside and our phone was about to die. So we called the Elders and asked them to come pick us up. So they came and we drove around where we went tracting that day. We could not find them. We called the members we had been with and none of them could find them in their cars. So we called president and let him know the situation. It was almost 9:30 at this point and so he told us to call members and see if we could stay at one of their houses. We called the relief society president and she started calling people. Then one of the elders asked if any of our windows were unlocked and our kitchen was. But it was on the second floor in the back. Elder Huntsman just scaled our balcony and was able to climb through our kitchen window. He is such a life savor! Our keys were sitting on our couch... So embarrassing but so glad we were able to get in that night and not have to sleep in a skirt. 

Bowling with my District.  I used my Bob Trythal skills and won!

Elder Huntsman came in a close second.

Our whole District

Bishop Larson asked me to read the article: "The Fourth Missionary" and then at my six months I am suppose to email him and let him know that i have become the fourth missionary. I read it before my mission but decided i should read it again so i did this week. It is such a great article about giving your will to the Lord. And that your mission is the best time to establish that habit. It was such a great thing to read this past week because i was really struggling to have a positive attitude. We still hadn't found anyone to teach and the days were just really long. But that helped me have a good attitude and look at what i could learn from the situation. 

This past week was so cold. There were two days the temperature didn't go above 40 degrees... I was struggling haha

It's freezing.  Literally.

Friday night we still didn't have any new investigators and our plans had fallen through. So i had the thought we should stop by someone they had been teaching before i got here. She wasn't really interested in talking again and so i was trying to figure out where we could go next when some of her neighbors stopped us. They asked if we were missionaries and we were able to visit with them and tell them about the church. We are hoping to teach them next week, they are looking for a church!

Saturday we taught Eduardo and Estephany the plan of salvation. It was soo much information and i was nervous they would be overwhelmed. But they took it in really well and had a lot of good questions. We asked them about baptism. They had a goal of being baptized on the 24th of this month but we moved it back a week to the 31st. I asked if they had received an answer to prayer and Estephany thinks that she is. She says she is really happy when she thinks about it and reads from the Book of Mormon! I am so excited for her. Eduardo said he is still praying about it. Which is totally fine. I know if he keeps praying and reading he will get an answer. 

Sunday was the best day of the week. Sunday is great as it is because we get to partake of the sacrament. But it was also Ward conference. One of the speakers was talking about how we are suppose to manage our time with family and work and callings in the church. He had a member of the 70 tell him that all you need to do is ask God what you need to do at that exact moment. That was so good to hear. As a missionary there are so many things that pull at our attention and i always hope that i choose the right thing. The activity that will help us fulfill our purpose best. That is something i am working on focusing on! What does Heavenly Father want me to do right now?

After church we had to go tracing for another 2.5 hours and i was not looking forward to it. I was hoping it would go by fast but the first door we knocked on was not happy with us so i was upset and really didn't want to keep going but we had to. We ended up teaching 4 lessons, getting 2 new investigators and placing 2 copies of the Book of Mormon and our lessons were so great we ended up tracting for 3 hours! It was such a good day and was such a blessing! 

Tracting, waiting for the train

The first two weeks of the transfer i was able to reflect on what Heavenly Father wanted me to do. What I should study and how I should improve. It was so nice to have the humbling time and then see the blessing that came. 

I am so grateful for the gospel and know that is for everyone. If you have any doubts just study and pray about it. You will receive an answer if you are sincere. God is your Father and he is not going to let you be alone if you asking for help. He loves you always. He's just waiting to hear from you.

I love you all and am thankful for everything you do. Never forget how much your Father in Heaven loves you. 

Love, Sister Erika Kelly