Serving Like a Champion

                                                We thought that was a nice pile of sticks

                                       to pose in front of while country tracting, so we did

Hey y'all! 

This week was great.  Okay, it was pretty slow because Sister Call has been sick (she's great now) but it was still great! First of all, Happy Birthday yesterday Alicia! I hope it was a nice day (: This week has finally warmed up a ton and it's been way nice! But unfortunately for me, that just means a whole bunch of allergies. I bought some Zyrtec stuff though, so that's helped a bit. 

Ahh I totally had a chance to speak Spanish and I BLEW it!  So Sister Call couldn't get this jar open, and I couldn't either, and we were desperate! We went next door to some guys that were fixing up the vacant apartment, and I asked for help in English.  He's like, eh? Haha and the most I could muster up to say, puedes ayudarme? Victory! But then I couldn't think of how to say, “can we give you a card? “ So we just gave it to him and said gracias.  It was so sad, and I'm quite embarrassed.  But at least an English seed was planted in his sweet heart. Glory glory. 

               Country tracting... we ought to be on horses or something entertaining

                                                           Ain't she a cute one!

Oh boy, we got news this week! Well kind of.  We had to drive up to Peach Tree City so I could personally hand in passport papers.  I haven't heard anything back, but it was supposed to be a 24 hour turnaround so maybe they just haven't told me yet! But that was so nice to feel like something was actually happening. Part of the paperwork needed travel plans, so I received possible travel plans to Taiwan! That made my heart so happy (: So if everything goes speedy quick, I'll be leaving on April 13th! Haha I don't even care if I don't leave that day, it was just nice to know that I'll be in Taiwan eventually. 

We've been doing quite a bit of store contacting this week, in preparation for my possible trip to the airport.  While we were up north, Elder Danklef told us about Sister Echols (who I went to jr high with). She broke her arm riding her bike, and had to go home for surgery.  But while she was in the airport, she taught someone like all three lessons, and a less active family of 10 gathered around to listen! Apparently two of their kids are now on missions, and the guy she talked to was baptized.  I've been praying for a miracle during my travels! It's going to happen.  So we've been practicing store contacting to get a feel for doing that in the airport (:

We saw so many times where the Lord just led us to people, even though that meant He had to cancel all of our appointments a good few days.  One day, we knew we needed to see Tilwania but hadn't been able to get in contact with her for a while, so Sister Call said a prayer as I was driving over, and we caught her just before she was leaving! Another time, we went to go visit Jenny, but West was there! We also haven't seen him in a good minute so that was great.  And my favorite - We parked on the street to start tracting a bit, and right where we got out, there was an Asian woman with her 4-year old son.  Her name is Ikuyo, and at first she seemed kind of hesitant.  Sister Call offered to pray, and seriously the whole time she was praying, I was praying that the spirit would work through her and soften Ikuyo's heart..  and I prayed that she knows Chinese, or has some relation to Taiwan.  Haha well, one of those prayers were answered.  She's Japanese, dang it! But I'm still way excited to teach her!

Okay, funniest moment of the week.  We were teaching Jessica and Tiba the plan of salvation, and Jessica was telling us her depiction of God. It was hilarious! "So God is just chillin up on his throne, Jesus right beside him, probably wearing shorts and flip flops.  Oh, and definitely drinkin a sprite, I love sprite! Jesus has to love sprite. (somehow we were talking about how the countries all separated) So God decided he would have some fun and zap all the countries to separate them.  ZAP and then Jesus was like, hey pops, I want a turn! ZAP." hahah don't worry, we clarified a few things but it was just so funny! I love Jessica (: 

                                               Sis. Call--what a goof :)

                               Gluten free 'black bean brownies'.  Surprisingly they weren't bad!

Sorry I guess I haven't been too good at telling about our 'gators on date! We've got five right now! Montavious, Damien, Keegen, Tilwania, and Measha. 

Montavious is pretty legit.  We actually met someone who worked with him. When we walked up to him he's like "y'all are the Mormons!" apparently he talked to Montavious about how he's meeting with us and he only said good things! Hurray!

Damien is a member's stepson.  He's so funny but he's a little slower progressing.  He knows he needs to be baptized and come to church, but just doesn't act on that.  But we're working on it! He actually came to church yesterday!

Keegen is Jenny's 9 year old son, and he's awesome! He is so excited to be baptized, but his one thing is that he doesn't like coming to church because they don't color in primary.  Haha I think we'll make some arrangements for that one :)

Tilwania... OHHH TILWANIA!!! She's amazing!! We were definitely led to her by the Lord with a 'last house miracle'. She said she saw us tracting one day on the longest street in Barnesville! (Might I add that we got zero new investigators from that.. lame. but at least there was one sweet fruit that came of it!) She has 7 kids, and when we met her and ever since, she just smiles all the time! She LOVED us teaching about the restoration, and even asked about the DVD that her uncle has.  Her kids range from like 3 months to 11, so hopefully we'll be able to teach 2 or 3 of them!

We met Measha just the other day on her porch with her parents, but only she was there for the return appointment but she was way excited to read the Book of Mormon.  I hope we'll get to teach her more this week as well as her parents!

Well, I believe that's all for this week! Thank you so much for all of your prayers and fasting.  I think we're finally starting to see those being answered, and I'm so thankful for that! Have a blessed day!

Love, Sister Facer

                     Just had to capture some high school soccer memories in someone's garage

It's Your Airplane

Why, hello!

So much has happened this week, I have no idea where to begin.  Okay, so I guess the  news that everyone always asks about.. my visa! No luck this week.  I got a call from President Harding, and he said they possibly lost my passport on the way to the consulate, and we'll have to start everything over.  I'm so grateful for Elder Danklef in the office, and all the other senior missionaries who have been so helpful in getting this process moving though.  That's definitely been a blessing to have their help whenever needed. After hours on my knees, pouring out my thoughts in my journal, and talking to President, I just know that this is all up to the Lord.  His ways are higher than my ways, and like President Hughes once said, I just have to take my hands off the wheel and say, "it's your airplane." There is nothing else I can do except for hand it all over to Him, so that is what I will do. 

                                     Sister Mason, my companion at the doctor's for an hour!

                                                        AKA legit mission nurse

We had zone conference this past week, and that was definitely an appreciated break from work.  I even got to go on a field trip to the doctor's office for a physical to get my passport stuff started again.  Anyways, Elder Morris was there, and he was one of the elders who traveled over to Atlanta with me so we became pretty tight.  He just got his visa to go to Australia! His testimony of why he was delayed in Atlanta was definitely for me though.  Basically he said how he took ASL for 3 years in high school, and one day while he’s been here, they found this drunk lady, got a return appt, which led them to find Calvin, who's deaf.  He just knew that he was specifically supposed to find Calvin, and we are all here for a very specific reason.  Everyone says that, but it just touched me because he's in the same boat I'm in.  I am so determined to find my reason for being in Barnesville, Georgia of all places!

                                                  This is the best part of the wall 

Sis Call and me were playing around one evening doing "faith flips" in the Book of Mormon.  So we'd ask a random question, and open it up to find an answer.  Isn't that how it's supposed to be used? So she asked when my visa was going to come, and flipped open to Jacob 5:29.  Another tender mercy! It said something like 'wait a little longer, but it will come.'  I know we were just playing around, but it was just too perfect. It will come; just in His timing. 

We finally got to teach Tilwania this week! Last week we were going to see her when we lost the car keys, so that was a bummer.  But oohhhh she's so awesome! We just knocked on her door (she was a last door miracle) and she said she saw us tracting one day on the longest street in Barnesville.  (Might I add that we found NO ONE from that!) Well, all that work wasn't for nothing (: Anyway, she just couldn't stop smiling, and she was so excited to meet with us! We taught her the restoration, and she absolutely LOVED the story of the first vision! She was so excited to start reading the Book of Mormon, and read the pamphlet with her 7 KIDS.  Wow.  I'm so stoked to see her again. Sister Call mentioned something about families being together forever, and she was just like, "Wow, that's an answer to my prayers!" We testified, committed her to be baptized on April 4, and the rest is history. 

                                               Can't miss a door, you know?!

We also met with Sister Campbell this week, a less active that we've slowly been helping come back. We set a goal with her to get to the temple in 6 months from now! Then she actually came to church, and Tony Clark and his family (seriously the best convert story) all talked about temples in sacrament meeting! Tender mercy! I'm excited for her though, and we should be getting a senior missionary couple in the ward this week, so that will definitely help as well!

Haha so we were walking along the street one day, and these two black kids were like, "why is your skin so white?" What are you even supposed to say to that?! I just told them that I haven't been out in the sun much, and he seemed to be satisfied with that. 

Okay, just one more tender mercy.  We were following up with people yesterday, and I remembered a referral we got the other day from a potential investigator.  We were able to meet Salisia, who referred us to Brenda, who referred us to Anthony, who referred us to Clay.  Holy cow! That was so cool! By small and simple things are great things brought to pass.  Later on we were tracting and literally had no idea where to go, so we decided to say a prayer and ask where we could best use our time.  We decided to go to a richer area and finish up where we had been from the day before.  Literally everyone on that street either didn't answer, or they "already had a church".  typical haha.  So Sister Call and I decided we were going to find someone whose mother had just passed away, hoping their heart would be a little softer.  A few houses down, we talked to a woman who wasn't interested, but we asked her who she knows that might be, and she said that their pastor lives just around the corner, and his wife's mother just passed away, and they're out of town at the funeral as we speak.  BAM-- tender mercy! So I guess what I'm saying is in all this craziness and stress with my visa and passport and everything,  Heavenly Father has definitely shown me that he is very aware of me, and He is still watching out for me.  I am so thankful for that knowledge.  No matter how alone we may feel, we are never truly alone.  Our father in heaven is very aware of us, and he just wants us to be happy.  God works in mysterious ways though, that's for sure.  I am so thankful for His hand in my life.  

Love, Sister Facer

                                                         Just chattin' with the locals

Miracles Totally Happen

 

                                                             Sister Call and me

Seasons greetings! 

What a week! I guess the biggest thing that happened this week is transfers! Sister Achziger is safe and sound in Colorado :( I'm gonna miss her! But I got a new tongban of course! The lucky contestant is Sister Call :) She's from Ammon, Idaho and this will be her 3rd transfer.  Greenie busting! Haha I was a little surprised to have someone younger than me, but it's been fun so far! She's a little quiet, but I guess that's kind of forced me to step up and be the leader, and take control of the lessons.  So we're doing great! 

                                                          Crazy sock Sunday...

                                            Brother Tingen's way of "spicing up" Sundays

We drove up to the transfer meeting with Shira, and somehow Sister Achziger got a hold of the keys before we left, so we drove all the way back to our area without car keys or house keys! That was quite the adventure.  Luckily, the AP's were able to bring them the next morning, and our apt manager was feeling generous that day and let us in.  Tender mercies (: 

                                               Our last pic together!  I'll miss ya, Sister A!

                                             Precious elders...they made a good-bye cake (:

                     The district:  Elder Herrera and Eldridge, me, Sis. A, Elders Reber and Stewart

We're probably moving apartments soon, but in the meantime, we had a guy come and spray for cockroaches since they've been DISGUSTING!! But good came out of it.  We talked to the guy, and apparently he had been to Utah and saw the Salt Lake temple.  Of all things! Score. So of course we had to give him a Book of Mormon and we referred him over to the elders.

We got a good handful of people on date to be baptized this week! We were talking to our district leader about it, and he asked what the change was from last week. Honestly, it was just because we actually invited more people to have a baptismal date.  It was that simple.  I don't know why we've been holding ourselves back! Specific questions will get specific answers, that's for sure. 

So we have one investigator, who had all the lessons previously, but could never make it to church.  He's progressing quite nicely, and is pretty stoked to be baptized! We got to teach one of our other investigators again! We actually got through the whole restoration, and I just love teaching it in such simple terms.  We were trying to help him understand what the spirit feels like, and we just decided to sing "I am a Child of God." We hardly said the first phrase before he screamed, "I can feel it!" Oh, the power of music.  We should probably sing more hymns in our lessons. 

And then Carlos.  Sweet, sweet Carlos.  We actually met him like right as my time was up at the library last week so I couldn't tell y'all about him, darn it! Haha okay it was so cool though.  So Sister Goggins  was at the library, and she randomly talked to this guy who was sitting next to her.  She brings up church (of course) and starts talking up the missionaries.  We get up, and she's like, “they're right there!” So we introduce ourselves and set up a time to meet, and give him  a BOM.  He's so awesome!!! We've already taught him the first two lessons, and he's so excited to get baptized.  His only thing is that he might be moving to CA soon, so he doesn't want to come to church and make too many friends before he leaves. He'll totally be baptized though.  Even if it's not with us, he will eventually.  He's so prepared! Miracles totally happen. 

A man that we tracted into  maybe 3 weeks ago came to church yesterday, and we haven't even taught him yet so that was sweet! Another tender mercy - he's from Geyanna (a small country by Brazil) and it just so happened that Elder Stewart is also from there! Of all the many missionaries who could be serving here right now, it was him.  So it was fun to see him fellowshipped and everything. 

Well, that's all for this week! I did my first legit 24 hour fast for my visa to come.  Apparently Elder Morris, who got here when I did and is waiting to go to Australia, he fasted and his visa came the day later at the transfer meeting.  It's gotta come sometime, so I might as well start praying seriously for it! Things are going good though.  Sister Call makes me speak Chinese whenever we're just tracting or something, and she reminds me to pray in Chinese whenever it's just us, so that's been quite helpful. I hope everyone is doing well! Love y'all!

Sister Facer

A Glimpse of Heaven

                                              My art lesson from Br. Adams

Dear friends and family, familia e amigos, jiating he pengyou,

I can't believe I hit 6 months this week!! I can't believe how fast the time has flown by.  I still feel like I'm a total greenie, but I can definitely see that I've improved a ton.  But there's always room to improve! Transfers are this week, and we found out this morning that I'm staying here and getting a new comp.  Sweet! I'm excited for another friend (: Meanwhile, me and Sister Achziger really had some hen hao times. It's crazy that she's going home! My first 'kill' haha.  She's really taught me a lot, and I feel like I've grown a ton just as a person from being her tongban.  I'm really grateful for her example and diligence.

Yes, this week was FREEZING!! I bought some tights, and I've loved having the gloves you sent me, as well as the coat I inherited from last exchanges. That's definitely been a blessing to be taken care of. 

                                             just waiting for ward council to start

Dang, I have a lot of random stuff to share this week! Where to begin... Oh boy.  So last monday we pretty much got verbally anti-ed! It was crazy! We went in for a return appointment with a college kid, and then he just smacked us down and went mad with false stuff about Joseph Smith, our views on grace, and Jesus Christ, and simply said we're not Christian.  It was insane! But I learned a ton from that experience.  First of all, I kind of enjoy those because it just strengthens my testimony so much.  No amount of evidence against the gospel will shake my faith.  I realized that the whole time he was talking, I just felt so gross and I knew the spirit was NOT with us.  I had such a hard time fighting to find words, and it was just bu hao. I'm really glad to be able to recognize when I have the spirit with me. Also, I learned what not to do as a missionary, such as tell other people what they believe, and that they're wrong.  All I'm here to do is add to people's faith and knowledge, and invite them to act on that.  With Christlike love and kindness and charity, of course. 

        the Carthon girls! They're definitely going to be cute little missionaries one day (:

Visa update: 9 more missionaries got their visas, and now I'm 1 of 2 still waiting in the states.   Heavenly Father is definitely telling me that I'm needed right here in Barnesville.

We were able to visit the part member/less active family that we skyped from their house for Christmas.  They just got custody of their son, and so they're really wanting to start getting him in a routine of church, prayer and scripture study, as well as having FHE and stuff.  This should be really good for them though! I hope this will be their turning point.

We were tracting one day (okay, pretty much all day every day) and we taught the restoration to someone right on their front porch. I love when that happens.  It was kind of a cloudy day, but right as I began the first vision, "I saw a pillar of light..." the sun came out and it was so bright! The spirit just flooded over, and it was such a cool experience. Heavenly Father made that happen just for us, I'm sure of it (: He is aware of each one of us, and He'll do any little thing to show support for what we are doing, so that we know He is there.  Tender mercies are the best!

We also met a 'nontheist' while tracting hahah.  He's not an atheist, just a nontheist.  Buuut it's pretty much the same thing.  We've about seen every religion you can think of in the south.  It's great!

We finally had a last house miracle! Twice even! I swear, whenever we tract, it's always like the 2nd or 3rd house that is interested, and then our faith is tested by having to keep going.  I'm glad to say that we finally found someone at the end of the street, or the last house we knock before we turned around.  Hopefully they'll be solid investigators and progress towards baptism!

                                Cookies, PMG videos, and neutral nails.  What sisters do best (: 

I had a really cool experience with Sister Moyer, the less active we found that's not even in our ward records.  We stopped by randomly, and honestly it was a bit awkward at first.  But we got talking about hard things we've been through and trials and stuff, and I felt like I should share my ACL story.  At first, I didn't see why it would have any relevance to her.  But I realized that's not what matters.  I had a trial, and I was able to rely on my Heavenly Father through it. That can apply to anyone.  I know that he specifically hand picked that trial for me, because He knew that taking me out of playing soccer would mean a lot to me, and push me to rely on Him. The spirit was so strong as I shared my experience and my testimony that God gives us trials so we can learn from them and become more like Him.  Okay, so I guess I'm (kind of) thankful that I tore my ACL.. I never thought I would say that! I see that it changed me into a better person and gave me an experience that I could use to lift others up. I'm so thankful for the atonement, and I know that it works for everyone, especially me.  

                                 Sister Achzgier taught me how do the rubix cube! Victory!

As I was doing my studies this past week, something really cool stuck out to me.  Somehow I made my way into the bible dictionary, looking up the word 'earnest'.  I can't remember it exactly, but it talked about how when we feel the Holy Ghost, that's just a glimpse into what heaven is like.  That's so awesome! Considering that when you feel the spirit, you just feel so wonderful,  I can only imagine what heaven will be like! What a sweet thing to think about (: I want to strive to make my life more like heaven by always being worthy of having the spirit and feeling its influence in my life. 

Cheers, yall.

Love, Sister Facer

                                              The chicken eye... In memory of Brigham

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