Faaamily!!!!!
Hello from North Carolina!
North Carolina is amazing! It's everything I could havew hoped for and more. The humidity really isn't that bad. Everything is SO green! There are literally thousands of denominations. I think every other building here is a church building of some sort. The plane ride over was good. I talked to a lady from England who has lived in Utah since the 80's. she married a member who had gone inactive when his mom died, but has been taking lessons from the missionaries and is going back to church. She asked me about mission stuff, but told me she wasn't interested in joining. On the connecting flight from Dallas I sat next to a really nice couple for Raleigh. It was kind of funny. The man asked me if I was an LDS missionary. I told him I was. He then told me that it was my lucky day because his name was Joseph Smith. He knew a lot about the church and wished me luck on the mission.
I am currently located in Greenville, and more specifically, Ayden, NC. It is a very small town and it reminds me a lot of Idaho...kind of. This is definitely the south. Everyone knows everyone and they all have some mighty fine accents. Everything is very spread out, and there are a lot of fields (mostly tobacco and soybean fields). My companion, Sister Joseph is awesome. She is very patient, very much dedicated to missionary work, and I'm just so happy and feel incredibly blessed to be with her.
My first experience in North Carolina: we went to a member's house and ate meatloaf. Then we shared some scriptures in 2 Nephi. Then, we went and taught a lady who called the missionaries because she saw an ad on tv about mormon.org. We had a good lesson with her and I could tell she was quite touched by the spirit.
The area I am currently serving in consists of Ayden, Greenville, and Winterville. There are three wards that I am over. One of them is a YSA branch. I am so excited to be working the the YSAs. They have about 40-60 people who attend every week. There are a lot of less actives in the branch. We have had some good success contacting them and committing them to church...so that's been great! We also had a lesson with a girl who is 19 and she seems very interested in the church. She is debating joining the military and going to school. We taught her about the restoration and it went really well.
The other two wards are great too. The bishopric is so good about giving us referrals. We have TONS. We are teaching a really neat lady, Sister Jones. She is getting ready to be baptized on July 16th. Her husband is a member and she had a baby and just wants her family to be together forever. I really like teaching her.
We also have another investigator, Bro. Rose. He is the neatest man. He has had a lot of trials in his life. He decided a few years ago after his wife left him that he would read the bible every day of his life after that; and he's done just that. The other sister that was with Sis. Joseph before I came taught him the restoration. We talked to him about 2 nephi 31 and invited him to be baptized. He said that he would need to think about it, but that he had never been baptized before and that it was a goal that he wanted to accomplish.
We also have another investigator, Bro. Rose. He is the neatest man. He has had a lot of trials in his life. He decided a few years ago after his wife left him that he would read the bible every day of his life after that; and he's done just that. The other sister that was with Sis. Joseph before I came taught him the restoration. We talked to him about 2 nephi 31 and invited him to be baptized. He said that he would need to think about it, but that he had never been baptized before and that it was a goal that he wanted to accomplish.
We have several other investigators.
Tracting is hard, but I love it. It's hard just because most everyone here has some sort of religious affiliation and most of them are content with what their religion offers. It's hard to identify what they need when they simply tell you that they aren't interested and like the church they go to. I think at least 80% of the people here are baptist of some sort. We talked to a baptist minister. He wasn't interested. at all. We had a lady yell at us for talking to her brother, who has been to church quite a few times, but he had a stroke so she doesn't think he can make logical decisions for himself.
Yesterday was hilarious. It was the fourth of July and since it was p-day, we decided to have a picnic at the park. We did just that and enjoyed it very much. Then, we found some swings (which was way to much fun). We started tracting at 6 because our appointments fell through and we were trying to decide if we were in the right spot at the right time. I told sis. Joseph that I thought we were. Then, we both just about had a heart attack because some one lit of some fireworks and we thought someone was shooting at us. Sis Jospeh said, " I don't think we're in the right place" when they went off. Then, we laughed ourselves sick. I tried popping some popcorn after we got home and the bag caught on fire. I don't think my cooking skills are improving here.
I hope y'all had a great 4th!
I love you all and I know that this church is true and that it is through the ordinances and covenants we make that we can be with our families forever.
love you all!
sis. J
I am so excited that she was placed with a good trainer. Nothing is better than having someone who cares about you show you the "ropes". It is so funny how Amber hated meat loaf growing up. What happens her first day in her mission? She is served MEAT LOAF!!! All I can say is LOL!!!!! Love it! :)
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