Sister Applegate: Best. Week. Ever!

Hey Everyone!!

Lately I've had the song from Spongebob "It's the best day evveerrrr" stuck in my head--this week was great! My mind and fingers feel like they are going a million miles an hour so here we go! So Wednesday night the elders texted us and told us that this lady named Annie feels strongly that she needs to be baptized and that she wanted to get baptized on Saturday in between Conference sessions. Annie has been coming to church for who knows how long-I thought she was a member!! But she wasn't....so we had three days to throw together a baptism! There were a few things that needed to get worked out but we got through it all and she was baptized! Oh it was so awesome. What a great time to be baptized, in between two awesome sessions of Conference!

Thursday Sister Richardson and I were talking nonstop about Panda Express. We both have really missed it, and Sister Taylor knows I love it too. Sister Taylor and her companion were in Macon for their leadership council meeting and Macon (Warner Robbins) happens to be the only place I know of in the mission that has a Panda Express. We came home that night to Panda on our doorstep. And the best part is we were on the phone with them when we got to the house so they heard us scream and shout for joy and everything. Best night ever. Haha. Good end to a crazy day. We had been running around feeling like chickens with our heads cut off! We had a packed schedule for the day and I ended up being able to get a doctor's appt that afternoon and it was just so lame... we spent two hours there and the first hour was just sitting in the waiting room. Trust me as a missionary, you don't want to sit still and do nothing. But once we got out we were running again, trying to get a program made for Annie's baptism and a million other things. It was fun though.

The next best thing is that along with the Panda we miss, we miss Wendy's just as much. There hasn't been a Wendy's in my area since my first area in Albany so I have definitely missed it. We had Zone Conference on Friday in Tifton so Sister Richardson and I planned all week to go there for dinner when the meeting was over. And we did :) Just kept the great feeling of the week going. Last week our gps said there was a Wendy's in Baxley and we needed to see someone there so we were stoked--so we're driving, and driving, and then the gps said the Wendy's was on our left so we look and there's a food place (NOT WENDY'S) but it's in an old Wendy's building!! We were like "oh come on! What kind of sick joke is that???" Hahaha. Looking back it's funny, but we were pretty depressed at the time. :)

Friday was great though. At Zone Conference President Cottle started off by talking about the movie "Meet the Mormons" which was put out by the Church to help people understand more about LDS members as people, not our beliefs really. President said there were a couple missionaries that emailed him asking if we could watch it and he emailed back and said 'no' and then he got an email from the First Presidency/mission department saying they wanted all missionaries to watch it. Wahoo!!! But he said we couldn't go to theatres. Then he said maybe they'd show it for the Christmas Zone Conference, but they decided against it. So we're all on-edge here and he said the Church sent him another email saying they wanted all missionaries to view the movie within a 30 day period and sent him a copy. Hahaha, yay!! So President was like, "So, let's 'Meet the Mormons' ". And we watched the movie for the first part of ZC. So awesome!!! Y'all should really watch it, we're supposed to encourage people here to watch it too. The more views opening weekend, the more places they will show it in the US. It really is good--it goes around and shows different members around the world and just who they are--it doesn't push our beliefs at all. We all really, really enjoyed it, so go watch it! :)

Friday night we went and visited our investigator, Skyla. She's 23 and has three little kids. She is so ready to be baptized. She's nervous for a change, but really does know it's right. We told her we wanted her to think about a date to get baptized, and pray about it. We told her we had been thinking and praying as well, and wanted her to think about November 1st. She smiled and talked a little bit, and said that's a date she would really like to work towards. Don't you like how this week just keeps getting better and better? Let's keep going! :) Haha.

Saturday was wonderful!! We had the first session of Conference, and then Annie got baptized before the next session started! Yaaaayy!! She had been fasting from food since Thursday and hadn't gotten much sleep and she just wanted to be ready. Earlier in the week she said she had the strongest feeling that it was time and she needed to get baptized and that feeling just kept getting stronger and stronger. She got emotional on the phone with us, and we heard she had a very spiritual interview where she cried at the end. Tears of joy :) Annie is awesome! She is one of the funniest people here we all love being around her. Pictures will be attached!

The rest of Saturday's Conference was great as well! Willie is the greatest--we texted him Saturday morning to remind him about the times for Conference so we said "Hey Willie don't forget about Conference today from 12-2 and 4-6!" And then he sends back "And priesthood session from 8-10." Hahaha, WILLIE! We love him! He posted the times on Facebook as well for all of his friends to see. We stopped by his house after the second general session, right before priesthood session. Willie had been adament that he will not be baptized--he was baptized when he was younger in Germany and he believes with his whole heart that the Pastor that baptized him had full authority to do so. He said he was baptized into a Baptist church but that he was baptized a Christian. He doesn't really believe in being a part of one denomination or the other. We have been praying for so long that he would understand, and that Conference would answer those concerns for him. When we went over we talked about the previous two sessions and then he was like "I fully believe that Pastor ___ had the authority to baptize me, but who's to say I don't need to be baptized again, by this authority?" AHHHHH!!!! HE'S GOING TO GET BAPTIZED!!!! Then a minute or two later he kind of cracked a smile and was like "Man, y'all are going to make me give up my coffee..." and then we all started laughing :) GUYS!!! MIRACLE!!!! I guess when the Sisters were first meeting with Willie he wouldn't even say a prayer when they were with him and now he says a prayer almost every time with us! And he was so adament he wouldn't be baptized into a church, even though he does love this one, and now he's going to take the step!! Yippee!!!! He has just progressed so much and is so awesome!!

Alright, Sunday. Awesome again. I've always wanted to visit a Baptist church since 99.9% of the people we talk to every day are Baptist. Problem is our church service times always conflicted... until yesterday :) Since Conference didn't start until 12 we were able to go to Southside Baptist church. We were able to go to their sunday school and part of their actual service before we had to leave. They do a lot of singing in the beginning so unfortunately we didn't get to hear any of their preaching, but it was still interesting. I liked it more than the Apostolic Pentecostal church I visited in Albany, but it was still very different. They sang very reverent words, to very upbeat, "fun" music, which I didn't really like. They have a different idea on what the Spirit feels like. But we were able to attend, and then we got to watch the last two sessions of Conference. So good...I'm really going to miss it! Six months is so long to wait!! I really hope y'all were able to notice the themes. Clearly there are things we all need to hear and work on. What stuck out to me was the importance of Sacrament and the sacredness of it; our need to care for the poor and needy, both in physical and spiritual nature; the need for the Prophet and how we need to follow him, for he truly is the mouthpiece for God; the need to constantly be strengthening our testimony and seek for personal revelation; the importance of prayer, scripture study, family home evening, etc; and how great our need for a Redeemer, even Jesus Christ. I know that if you listened with a question or concern, or will even go back and study those talks now, they will all be answered and addressed. Conference is a truly magnificent thing and we are so lucky to be able to have it, to watch it from our own homes or listen to it on the radio if we need! We are so blessed in this day, I hope you all will take advantage of the opportunity to go back and reread the talks given. It was truly Heavenly Father speaking to you, did you hear Him? Did you hear what He was trying to say to you personally? I hope we all will. We all need the counsel and comfort that it brought. Like was quoted recently to me, "Conference: to comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable." Hahaha. No matter what Conference is great because we all need repentance every day--the change that happens to make us better. And because it can and does make us better, it is a happy change!!! Don't let Satan make you feel otherwise.

I hope y'all had a terrific week as well, this gospel really does bring true joy to our lives! LASTING joy. If you don't feel it right now, pray for it. Find the burning of your testimony, and kindle that fire. Help it grow. "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you" (Matthew 7:7).

I love you all!!!! Have the most blessed week!!

All my love,

Sister Kaylee Applegate

There's a restaurant here called Manna... :) It's good!

The things you see in Georgia... Llamas for pets, and no one has a pathway that leads to their doorstep. Almost everyone has a porch thing, and then there's no way pathway to get to it... I took a picture of this one, they have half a pathway...

We have palm trees in this area