Well, the day has come. Today is my last day in Albany. It has been so wonderful here and it will be so hard to leave in the morning, but I am excited for the new adventure that awaits :) We leave for Macon in the morning and will have our transfer meeting, and then I'll be off in a new area by tomorrow evening! Could go anywhere..too bad I have to wait 6 days to let you know where I'm at! Next Monday though.
This week has been wonderful. We've met some great people that Sister Trout and her new companion will be able to teach. That's another sad thing about leaving areas, you find all these people who are thirsting for the gospel, meet/teach them once, and then you're shipped out. I am very excited to get updates on these individuals and families, there is so much potential. I'm grateful for the opportunity I had to speak in our ward one last time too, and to sing with the other missionaries. We may not have sounded very good, but the Spirit was there. "The song of the righteous is a prayer unto me." Music is powerful. We sang 'Come Thou Fount' and it's now one of my favorites.
On Saturday we had an awesome lesson with Jane and we invited her to be baptized. SO COOL. It's just interesting to me to see the power behind it, when people realize truth about the gospel and begin to think about the covenant of baptism we make with Heavenly Father. Jane said she would think about it, and we invited her to pray with us right then and ask God if it was right. She did, and it was awesome. I definitely felt the Spirit, and I believe she did too. She will get her answer soon, I know it. I can't wait to see what happens with her. She'll be turning 80 in a few months and I just think it's so amazing. To be baptized at that age, to finally find what you've been searching for, ah! Awesome. I had explained about the Priesthood authority a little more to her and I told her how the Priesthood authority is Jesus Christ's authority-the right and power He had to act in the name of God for the salvation of all God's children. So literally when we are baptized, it's like Jesus Christ Himself is baptizing us. I had honestly never thought about it like that until the words came out of my mouth in Jane's living room. Hey, hey, thank you, Spirit! It was after I had said those words that Jane really began to think about being baptized by someone holding the Priesthood authority of God and then us inviting her to take that step. We've had some great miracles like that this week. Just yesterday this woman came to church all on her own. She's been going to different churches looking for the right one and she's been wanting to know about the LDS Church for a long time. She decided she was going to go yesterday, but ended up turning off her alarm and not getting up. Church starts at 9am here and she said at 8:59am she decided she was going to go and she did. Things worked out so perfect. The things she wanted to know and learn about were talked about, and the Holy Ghost really did testify to her that this was where she needed to be. She is an elect individual, and she will be a blessing to her family and the ward. I'm sad I don't get to stay and teach her! Haha. Before we started talking to her the elders had told us to say 'hi' to her so I thought they had already been teaching her but by the end of the conversation we figured out she searched the building and service time all online and showed up on her own. The elders wanted to teach her, but we kind of took over... we just connected so well and set up a time to go to her house and everything fell into place. Then the elders walked in, realized what happened, and Elder Litwack was like "All I told you to do was say HI, that's it!" Hahaha. They called us thieves for taking their elect new investigator :)
So last week I got Jaycee's letter and Emily who I used to babysit drew me a picture and Jaycee sent it with her letter. (Thanks Emily, I love it!!) Pictures from little kids are pretty much the cutest things, I've loved getting them. So, last weekend our District Leader was asking if we wanted to make a dessert and bring it to District meeting and I thought of our birthday ice cream cake--I wanted to make it before I got transferred anyway as a last 'shabang' party thing. Sister Trout and I decided we wanted something in return though so I said if all the elders drew some type of picture for me, I'd make the ice cream cake. They totally did. You can't really see the pictures they drew in the pictures I'm including, but just know they're wonderful. Haha. Some of those elders have talent! I was impressed. But not as impressed as they were with my ice cream cake ;) It was a lot of fun.
Yesterday we spent a lot of time saying goodbye to the ward and people we have been working with. That's what most of the pictures are of. I've made some eternal friends here! Sister Oldham was one of the hardest ones to say goodbye to, I love her dearly. We called her after we found out I was getting transferred and she just started crying... I could only keep it together for so long, you can't see Sister Oldham cry and not cry with her. She's a sweet lady, I wish y'all could talk to her and get to know her like I have.
One thing y'all should do--go watch the Mormon message "Good Things To Come" on mormonchannel.org. It's one of my favorites. The quote I love from it that Elder Holland gave is "Don't you quit. You keep walking. You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead. Some blessings come soon, some come late. Some don't come till Heaven. But for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come. It will be alright in the end. Trust God and believe in good things to come." Amazing quote, full of truth. It is one of my favorites that I will always remember. Sister Hall told me a good quote too; it went something like "God can't guide your footsteps if you don't move your feet."
This gospel is amazing and I know it's true. I know that we are divine Sons and Daughters of our Heavenly Father, and that the worth of our souls is great in His sight. (Doctrine&Covenants 18:10).
I'm excited to hear about this coming week from y'all, can't believe Brandon is already coming home from his mission! Take pictures and send him my love. I can't wait to tell you where I'm serving next! I love you with all my heart and I will talk to you soon!
Love,
Sister Applegate
Pictures:
Pictures that were drawn from the elders in my district, we went on exchanges with Sister Parke and Sister Anderson, the elders put a lizard in our car, we celebrated Sister Oldham's 81st birthday (that's her awesome daughter Lavern in the picture of the four of us), said bye to Anniece and Mr. Cori, Sister Payton and her daughter, the Millerds, coolest family EVER, the most amazing woman in the world, Sister Hall, Sister Oldham again, our group of missionaries (Elder Blankenship, the blonde one is being transferred too), and then the Marburys, Brother Marbury is our ward mission leader. And then the Porter family! (With Sister Payton again). They are an awesome bunch I'm really going to miss them. These pics will be sent in separate emails though, not enough room :)
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