Week 9: Moving on to another area...

Hey y'all. Transfer calls are in...and I am leaving the B-hood. I have no idea where I'm going. But I am heartbroken. My whole district has been decimated,  basically. Elder O will be a district leader in Newberry, Elder M is a zone leader in West Columbia, Sister Hansen is going home and I know nothing about anything except for that I'll be in a trio with someone else who came in with me. SO PLEASE PRAY FOR ME CAUSE HEAVEN KNOWS IMMA NEED IT.

JUST SOUTHERN THINGS:

-We listened to a group of old ladies critique the barbecue they bought from the high school baseball team as a fund raiser. Apparently it wasn't that good, but I loved it. It was probably the best barbecue I ever had in my life.

-Tried butter beans!

-Tried Carolina Gold barbecue sauce, and MAN that stuff is really good.

-Haven't had to make a meal pretty much all week, because everyone wants to feed us before we leave.

This is audio of Sister Pew singing and playing  Nearer My God to Thee at Zone Training (last week).

So Monday we hung out with the other COLA (columbia) zone sisters at the STLs' apartment. It was way fun! We played What If, and they all loved that game.

The next day was district meeting, where I gave my first training! It was about how to be a better missionary using the examples of Jesus Christ and His apostles. I'm not sure how it went, but studying for it was really awesome. Then we did exchanges with the STLs. I stayed in B with Sister Buckey and Sister Hansen went to Columbia with Sister Vorkink. Sister Buckey is basically the coolest; she is a convert of about 2 years and was totally anti-Mormon until she had a literal and metaphorical change of heart (she got heart surgery, lol). We taught a really powerful lesson to a less active member named Vanessa, who really opened up to us and told us she wants to figure out if she really wants to be involved in the church. The Spirit was so strong! I am so glad it was there to guide us to the questions to ask her to get her thinking. Sister Buckey stayed the night, and we had a good time chatting.

The next morning we went and did service with SBP again, restoring the same house that was damaged in the floods. This week we did drywall in the same room we did insulation in. We were there with the STLs, the Hopkins elders, Elder H and Elder F, and the Columbia elders, Elder E and Elder B. It was way fun. They're pretty goofy, all of them. Elder H wants to start a band with me and Elder F and another elder in our zone, Elder L. Elder H will be playing the guitar, Elder F will sing, I will play the piano and Elder L will play the drums. Apparently. It was fun though.

Thursday we went to Sister D's house for dinner with the B elders, where Elder M broke the news that he'd be leaving us to be a zone leader and predicted that I would be transferred. We were sad. But the food was good, so that made it a little better.

Friday we did weekly planning for Sister Hansen's last time! It's weird that she's leaving. Then we taught V and I from El Salvador about the restoration! V is less active but he's way cool. After that, we picked up the elders' recent convert, L, and took her to our recent convert E's house to do one of her new member lessons with our district and the elders' investigator R who is dating a less active named D.

Saturday we did not receive a transfer call, but at stake conference that evening, President Turner interviewed Sister Hansen and told me I'd be leaving B to be in a trio. I still don't know where! But we've been incredibly busy getting everything ready for us to leave so that the new sisters being whitewashed in will have SOME information. Hopefully they have a GPS, because W is 10 miles away from where we live in B, lololol. But stake conference was way good. Elder Alba of the 70 was there, and he is adorable. He showed a video of the song "the Spirit of God" being sung by a Presbyterian choir and a boys' choir - not only a Mormon hymn with Mormon doctrine taught in the lyrics but THE MACK WILBURG ARRANGEMENT AS WELL, so that basically pumped me up a lot. People were crying in the choir while they were singing it. It was awesome.

Sunday was stake conference again, which was great. Afterwards we had a passoff lesson with the elders and M, because the B elders will be teaching him from now on. I know Elder L and his new companion will take good care of him. When he is baptized, I hope I will hear about it! Brother W, one of the less actives we have been meeting with who is returning to church, received the Melchizedek priesthood yesterday also! How cool! We also had dinner at the Bishop's house. It was quite fun.

Today we received the official news that I am being transferred! We've been packing all day and blasting MoTab so that we can try to not think about things because when we do we get sad. Sister Hansen doesn't want to leave. I don't want to be transferred. But it is the Lord's will and we must do it! I am sure it will all work out. My faith in God has increased so much in this past month and a half. I trust Him to take care of me, and you should too!

I love you and miss you all! See y'all soon!
Don't let the muggles get you down!

Love,

Sister Pew

(sorry, no pictures today.)

Week 8: Prayed Up

OKAY SO THIS WEEK WAS EXCELLENT I LOVE MY LIFE I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY WAHOOO

The subject line comes from a popular phrase among my African American brethren.

This week, I have been super "prayed up". I have prayed more this week in my whole entire life. Holy cow. It has been a trip.

JUST SOUTHERN THINGS!

-We were given flowers by an 80 year old. Pictures included at the end.

-I found out that they give medals and ribbons here for being on the honor roll. Everyone wanted to brag about their smart kids to us this week.

-IT IS FEBRUARY AND IT IS 70 DEGREES OUTSIDE. WHAT IS THIS. WHERE IS THE SNOW. WHERE IS THE COLD. WHAT IS THE SOUTH.

-I guess, if we're talking Southern things, South American things kinda count...? Anyway, C is in love with my companion... >:(

-I tried okra! It wasn't fried, but we're working up to that.

-We also ate fried chicken 5 times within 3 days. It was a mess.

Okay. So. Um. Monday. Right.

Monday was really fun. We got to just hang out at our apartment mostly all day. We found a football and threw it around. It was great. I made lemon chicken & pasta for Sister Hansen, which she very much enjoyed. She says I am "wife material" because I can cook. Later that night we visited some less actives, and that is where I tried okra. It's pretty good.

Tuesday we visited M again. He's been doing pretty good this week. We also cemented some details for Elder M's surprise party. 

Wednesday was a big day! We went to Columbia with our district and the Windsorlake Elders, Elder B and Elder C, to do service with the St. Bernard Project, a foundation to help disaster recovery. (Elder B actually trained Elder O from our district, so when he showed up Elder O was all like "'Sup, dad.) We helped do work on a home that was damaged by the floods awhile back. We did insulation and mold remediation, and that is why Dad received a text with photos of me and Sister Hansen in space suits. It was really fun though. We brought the football again and the elders had a great time showing off their football skillz. 3 of the 4 of them played in high school and Elder M did some college ball before his mission, but for a junior college. Then, we drove home, cleaned up (because we were stinky from doing the housework), got ready and went to Banister's to pick up 75 chicken wings for Elder M's party. We headed over to the elders' investigator, A's house and helped decorate. People showed up at 6:30 and the elders all showed up at 7. Elder L had scheduled an "appointment" with A so that Elder M suspected nothing. He was very surprised when L, the recent convert, jumped out behind the door and yelled "SURPRISE!!!" All in all, we had 3 investigators and their less active spouses, a couple of member families, and two recent converts! There was ping pong matches for days. I got killed twice, once by L and once by Elder D. Also, O and A have a turtle, so there's pictures of that. It was a very fun night and there was lots of fellowshipping happening, which was awesome.

Thursday we did weekly planning. Then we had dinner with B, a less active we visit. He is very lonely so we go and cheer him up. He took us to a place called Carolina Wings and since he's generous he basically bought us the whole freakin restaurant. It was super good! Then we had choir practice and since the elders were on splits both pairs showed up. They made up the entire men's section, lol. They are all very musically gifted, though; I was really impressed. I am the only alto in the entire choir. It's hilarious.

Friday we had ZTM. Sister Hansen will hopefully send you the video of me singing. There's no picture, just sound. I sang Nearer My God to Thee. I think I did okay, but most people forgot about it by the end of ZTM. Nothing too fancy. Hehe. Then we visited M.

Saturday we cleaned the church with M, the elders, and a couple of member families. We also gave M a church tour and finished up his discussions. It was very spiritual. Hopefully he'll be able to get baptized soon!

Yesterday we had ward council. We also had one of the musical sacrament meetings where someone gets up, says their favorite hymn, and bears their testimony about their spiritual experience with that hymn. Twas good. I enjoyed it very much. The bishop also talked to the missionaries after church and told us he appreciated us and apologized for some things he was afraid had offended us. I was super not offended by them, but it was cool of him to do that. He also got to know us a little better. I am confident the relationship with the ward will keep improving after yesterday.

Today we're going to Columbia to hang out with the STLs (sister training leaders). We're going on exchanges tomorrow and I have no idea who is going where yet, but that should be fun.

This week has just been super fun and awesome! Keep making the best of things, y'all.

Don't let the muggles get you down!

Love,

Sister Pew

Apparently she has become a clean freak-hahaha!

My kalancho plant named Gordon B., which is blooming!!!! 

Flower Bro W gave them

Bro W

Sister Pew and M

Epic Ping Pong match

Elder M's birthday

Add caption

Little girl they are teaching who wants to be a Sister Missionary when she grows up.

Week 7 New Investigator Progressing

Hey y'all!

Just Southern Things:

-found a guy in our area book named George Washington
-were asked by a couple different people which "groups" of Mormons we belong to, and if we practice polygamy still
-learned that even the people you think have teeth don't actually have teeth because they're dentures.
-taught a preacher's wife (and did not Bible bash)
-were given anti-Mormon material by an investigator.The investigator did not believe the weird things, thank heavens
-Had a man answer the door without a shirt on

Wow! This week has literally zipped by. I cannot believe it's Monday already and we're emailing again!

So last Monday was wayyyy fun. We were over our mile budget for the month, so we couldn't really go anywhere, so we stayed at our apartment and painted pictures and I made tacos!!! 

Tuesday we had DDM and I had to talk about the new key indicators. I probably did fine, but my shyness has increased to like level 50000 on my mission and it is REALLY scary for me to talk in front of people. So I felt like I was going to die the whole time, but other than that it was great. We also met two really nice old ladies while we were trying to contact a less active family. The one kinda scampered off when we approached them, but the other one's name is I and she was so sweet! (Also, I love the name I. Someone remember that one for me when I have children, okay?) She invited us to come back, but we haven't yet, so hopefully we can contact her again. She is religious but seemed open to other ideas.

Wednesday was so great. We felt very strongly about going down this certain street, but after getting door after door slammed in our faces, and person after person saying that they go to church already and they're not interested, we decided to leave and contact some referrals from our friend the preacher's wife. So we were headed to this one referral's house and we passed another person she had told us about and decided to try him first. So we knocked on the door and this old lady answered and told us that we couldn't help her, but we could probably help her son. "Just give him thirty minutes," she said, "and he'll be back from the store." We thanked her and turned to leave when she pointed behind us and said, "That's him right now." And that is how we met M, who is on date to be baptized February 18th after 3 wonderful lessons. He is 28 years old and has Asperger's, but he is so in tune with the spirit. He told us he'd been praying for us to come without knowing what he was praying for, and that he'd wanted to start feeling more joy, and that the message of the Restoration helps him love God more. WHAT???? God is real, everyone. 

Thursday we went to volunteer at the food bank, which was good. We went to eat lunch at the park and met a guy named A and his daughter S. And he was so cool!  Afterwards we taught M his second lesson and went to see Brother W, who told us he was going to R ward instead of B because he was offended. We tried to help him but he was not having it.

Friday we did weekly planning, which took REALLY LONG because we had lots to plan for and talk about! 

Saturday we taught M again and gave him the baptismal interview and put him on date! He will need to be interviewed by President Turner because of some rough experiences he's had, but he really wants to be at peace with God and he knows he needs this covenant to do it. It takes a while to teach him anything because he doesn't have the greatest attention span, but he's getting progressively happier and more talkative every time we visit him. It's just awesome.

Yesterday was so great. A didn't come to church, like we said, but M did, and the ward just totally embraced him and took him in and they were so kind and loving. E (the recent convert) gave him a ride, and Bishop  introduced himself, as well as like EVERYONE else! It was so awesome and M told us he feels a lot more joy in our church than the other churches he's been to (and holy cow, he's been to like 500).

Overall, this week ran me over like a bulldozer, and left me for dead, but I loved every second of it. Weird how that happens. I don't know. It's been a heck of a week, but missionary work is so awesome and I love it. We do this thing as a mission, before every meeting, where we recite a whole bunch of things and it takes us like 5 minutes to say it all. We first do the missionary purpose, and then that one quote that goes "the standard of truth has been erected. No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing. Persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, and calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth bold, nobly and independent, until it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country and sounded in every ear, until the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done." Then, we do the first vision, and then we say D&C 4 (all of it) and then we say, "I love tough things! I am the first to do tough things! I do tough things first! I love being a missionary!" and I love that last bit. It's a great reminder that the tough things are here to make us grow.

I love y'all! Don't let the muggles get you down!

All my love,

Sister Pew

As a side note V is very sick, like super duper sick so she hasn't been able to meet with them or go to church. Pray for her to recover.

Her companion took these pictures at her 1 month and now she's almost 2 months out!

Someone sent this to Tim via text. Pretty fun. Next letter will explain--we hope!

Week 6 Quick Trip to Charleston!

Hello all of you wonderful women and men and youths! I am coming to you live from the South!

This week, we had some dude give us free chicken wings because we were trying to find a house two doors down and we got lost, and they were REALLY GOOD. SOUTHERN COOKING 5EVER

What a week this week was!!! I have unofficially christened it "The Week of Meetings!" because we had a meeting of some kind every day except Monday.

I don't have tons of time so I'll just give yall some highlights:

-The most exciting update is definitely the new missionary schedule. We get up, exercise, and get ready for the day like normal, but then we study personally for the hour, then do companionship study for 30 minutes, then plan for 30 minutes, so we don't plan at night anymore. Also, p-day starts at 8 am instead of 10. Sister Hansen and I don't know what to do with ourselves all day.

-We got to go to Charleston to meet with Elder L. Whitney Clayton and his wife. They are the actual best. Also, so are my mission president and his wife. They talked to us about the new schedule, about the South Carolina Initiative (which is our missionwide process for finding through members and reactivation). It was so great.

-Since Charleston is two hours southeast of where we live, we got to sleep over in Charleston at some sisters' apartments. Sister Housari and Sister Groberg were our hosts. Sister Groberg got here with me. She is tall and has curly blond hair. They were very nice. Sister Hansen was very excited that we got to go to Charleston because she's never been the whole time she's been here, and she goes home in 3 weeks. The Charleston sisters treated us to an unexpected sightseeing drive of the city after the meeting! It was way cool. We saw the old slave trading place, Battery Park, Fort Sumter (from a distance), Rainbow Row, the courthouse where Brown v. Board happened, the old stock exchange, horses and buggies, weird cute houses, that church that the shooting happened at a couple years ago, and the projects, plus drove on the Ravenaugh bridge! I only was able to take a few pictures, because I didn't know they would be taking us on this drive, so I didn't even bring my camera. But it was super awesome! I finally saw the Atlantic ocean!

All in all, this week has been great. We had some disappointing times; V was too sick to come to church, so she's off date for baptism now. Please continue to pray for her and her family. But we also had some great times; Friday, we put 2 people on date! One of them is the only non member in a part member family. His name is D, and he's way cool and nice. He was super hesitant to commit to baptism, so pray for him. One of them is D, who we've been teaching for awhile. She doesn't know that she knows the church is true, haha, but she's already living the Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity and believes everything we teach her, so pray for her as well.  Also, Elders L & M, who work in our ward with us, had a baptism on Saturday!!! Their investigator has been going through a really rough time, but she made it to baptism and has since said that she has never felt more loved and a part of something than she has in recent weeks, meeting with the Elders and coming to church. She is so great. Our recent convert, E, got to baptize her.

Well, that's about it! I love y'all! 

Don't let the muggles get you down!

All my love, 

Sister Pew

Sister Pew's district

Crossing the Ravenaugh Bridge

View from the Ravenaugh Bridge

Lady who was baptized Saturday