Hi Family and Friends!
Alright so I really wouldn't call it a curse because I have loved each and every one of my companions, but the horrible streak of changing companions every six weeks is over!! Wahoooo!!! Sister Richardson is staying with me for another transfer!! Oh man, this weekend has been so great. We were so on the verge of tears, so sure that she was leaving, but then her name wasn't called and she is staying in Hazlehurst!! Whooo!!! :) We are quite excited about this. Crazy where we're at though, so many friends are home and going home! Sister Turner (my trainer) is on a plane at this moment, back to California. I wish her the best, I know her family is excited to hug her! And welcome home Lindsey and Julie, I can't wait to see you guys! The time will come all too fast.
This week has been pretty good! I got to be on exchanges with Sister Taylor, so that's always a fun thing :) (I got Wendy's again, hehe) She will be my Sister Training Leader again so I still get to be with her too :) It was awesome on exchanges, what an inspired switch that was! We ended up changing our plans a little bit to see an investigator we have named Crystal. Crystal asked Sister Taylor a little bit about her relationship with God and the experience(s) that Sister Taylor shared with her were exactly what Crystal needed to hear, it was perfect!! Oh my goodness, what an inspired trade. That really helped Crystal out and the lesson was great and I am so excited to go back and teach her more!
We're also teaching this really awesome lady named Caldean. As we were talking to her about missionary work and what we do, she, like many others, was so surprised that we are away from our families for so long, with only weekly contact and a phone call or skype call on Christmas and Mothers' Day. Sitting with her though it made it so real for me: "Missionaries leave their families for a short time, so that others might be with theirs for eternity." Being a missionary is a very special thing and although you do missed loved ones, helping just one person know that they can be with their family forever is what makes it all worth it. This is an experience I will never regret, and continue to strive to magnify. Greatest calling in the world right here, one that we all have.
Elizabeth tends to put her 'Baptist guard' I call it up when we start talking about the Church, but she is very interested in Family History and that's something we have been working on with her. She is SO excited and so appreciative. It's a special kind of work, that's for sure. It's so awesome being able to hear her stories and put things together, making lasting connections with and for her and her family. I know her ancestors will be forever grateful. Every time we leave their house her and Edgar and Joey just tell us how much they love us and they really don't want either of us to leave. They are so protective and caring and they just give their whole hearts to us. Their family is stupendous I love them!
Charlene is still awesome, she came to church yesterday and is scheduled for baptism on November 15th. While we were teaching at her house the other day there was a cockroach on my lap and I may have kind of jumped and gasped. Haha. We're going to try and be really nice about it and see if we can't get people to help us clean her trailer up and set off those cochroach bomb things. Hopefully she will say yes! She is so awesome though, everyone at church loved her.
There is one concern/issue we have with Willie so we're working to get that resolved soon so he can get baptized, but keep praying for him! He can do it, I know he can. The gospel is here to nourish and strengthen our testimonies and I know he is not exempt from this. But we did have his Victory Party this week and it was so great! We went and got us all Dairy Queen Blizzards and took him one and we celebrated him going on more than a week of not smoking, drinking coffee, or tea or anything! And he said he had one more thing he needed to get rid of that was in his house--his coffee pot. So he had his nephew go throw it in the dumpster and we heard it shatter from where we were standing. Yahoo! You can just tell how happy he is now. And it is TRUE happiness, the best kind!
On Saturday a Baptist Preacher knocked on our branch president's door and once they got talking he asked if we had missionaries because he hadn't seen the guys or anything. President Hester told him we have sisters and said if they have a Sunday night service then he would let us know and maybe we could go one of these nights. So last night we went to Bible Baptist church :) Haha. He was surprised to have us there so soon. I've tried to make the commitment to really never get offended because it doesn't do anyone any good, but oh my. If I had been a member of that church last night I probably would've left it. I couldn't believe how much the Preacher bagged on women and all this other stuff. It was disheartening. But the majority of the people there were all very nice to us and it was a good experience. I always like visiting other churches, something different to experience.
This week has been good though and this one coming up will be great as well! We are having a little Fall Festival at our branch this Wednesday and they're having a chili cook-off and the missionaries are the judges! Yay! It will be a lot of fun and we are so excited. We're participating in the Trunk-or-Treat as well (as ones handing out candy, not taking it unfortunately...haha). So it should be super fun! We will be on lockdown for Halloween, but it's alright because apparently Trick-or-Treating and Halloween stuff has been abandoned in the small town of Hazlehurst... so sad. They did decorate the town with fall stuff, but I guess that's it. And a small haunted house. We'll still have fun though, you can count on that!
I hope you all have a wonderful week, and Halloween! Be safe, be smart, have fun!! Eat lots of candy for us :) Love you!!!!!
Love,
Sister Applegate
Oh P.S we got an awesome new investigator named Susan! She is friends with a less-active member and after talking about it she realized that she was the key to getting her friend Susan to learn about the gospel. Susan has had a really hard life, she was married twice and her son murdered both of her husbands. Don't ask me how he got away with it. I think he's currently in prison though. But anyway, she's always been super confused about who/what the Holy Ghost is because she grew up in some different churches where they smack you on the head and you get "filled with the Holy Ghost" and then you start speaking in tongues and stuff. But as we explained to her who the Holy Ghost is and his role, she said for the first time in her life it all makes sense. He testifies of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, quietly and reverently. I spoke about the Holy Ghost in my talk yesterday too and the less-active member said Susan really likes me because I make things easy to understand. I was so happy when she said that. So we've started teaching Susan and it's so great! We are taking her a Book of Mormon and Sister Richardson and I wrote our testimonies in it so hopefully that will be something special to her. I'll give you all updates next week!
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