This was a cool week, how often do you
get to meet and shake hands with one of the Twelve Apostles?! Elder Neil
L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles came to the mission so
we got to meet with him from 9am-11 on Saturday in Macon. We had to be there at 8, so we had leave our house at about 5:50 am.
Since the sisters in Douglas are farther out they came up Friday night
and slept over with us and then we all made the trip that morning. Cool
little miracle, the elders from Baxley and Alma were carpooling and they
ended up being right behind us shortly into the trip. Good thing,
because when they were by us their GPS died and they didn't have a
charger. Heavenly Father is so aware and really watches out for us,
because the elders were able to follow us to and from Macon.
When
we got to Macon we (all 200+ missionaries) got situated for one giant
picture with Elder Andersen, Elder Giddens of the Seventy, and Elder
Ulysses Soares of the Presidency of the Seventy. Quite the miracle to
fit all of us, haha. I can't wait to see the picture though! It should
be on the mission's Facebook page though, so someone can feel free to
take a picture of it and send it my way ;)
We
had a great meeting with these wonderful Brethren and Sister Andersen
who also spoke. It is quite the experience to be in the presence of an
Apostle of the Lord and I was so grateful to be able to shake his hand.
An experience I won't soon forget! Elder Andersen talked a lot about
honesty,integrity and obedience, relating everything to our missions now
and showing us how strong of a foundation it is for our futures. It was
a very good meeting I'm sad it wasn't longer.
After
the meeting the APs were telling us we could all go to the Macon Mall
for lunch at the food court, so we did. In our white handbooks it says
something about not gathering in large groups of missionaries in public
places... don't worry though, there were only 200 of us in one place...
;) haha. Ooops! :) It was so much fun though, I can tell the mission
reunions are going to be a blast. Before we all left some sisters went
up to the second floor to take a picture of all of us and we all started
singing Called to Serve and there were kids and people in the food
court smiling and laughing and recording us. Haha. One day I'm going to
see us all on Youtube :) Very good, very long weekend of driving. Sister
Thomas heads to the mission home on Sunday and home next Monday
but I should be getting dropped off in Douglas before they make that
trip to Macon because I don't want to go again. Haha. Transfers are next Tuesday so that's already another trip up there and I don't want to make more than I have to ;)
This
week will probably be an emotional one, but it will be good. There is
also an elder in our district that is going home so tomorrow at district
meeting we will be having a funeral. Haha. Sounds like eulogies are in
the process of being written and everything :) Sister Thomas will also
be playing 'God Be With You Till We Meet Again' as our closing song.
Haha. Mission life is so entertaining; or at least to us missionaries it
is. :)
Cindy, a recent convert, has an aunt
that lives next door to her named Jean. She just lost her son a couple
months ago, so she has lost both sons and her husband. She is 81 years
old. She's a really strong Baptist and when her second son died Cindy
told us she could use some help so suggested that we go and do service
for her. We did service a couple times and then on exchanges with Sister
Taylor this week we were able to start teaching her about the gospel!
Booyah! We started off talking about the Bible and that led into the
apostasy and the need for a restoration and the Book of Mormon and so
on. Exactly how we had hoped it would go. :) We had some good lessons
with her this past week and I am so grateful for them! She wanted to
come to church so we went over yesterday morning to help her get ready
but she wasn't feeling well. One day she'll be able to come, she is very
frail. We actually found out that she's been to a "Mormon Church" once
before and she said she liked it, so that's good to hear! Something
finally clicked for me in the South too--see, everyone here says they're
"saved" and they don't want to hear what we have to say. Jean is one of
those who will tell us over and over that she is saved. One guy was
telling me last week as well that when he "got saved" he realized his
sincere desire to follow Christ; to give up the bad things and really
commit to follow Him, not wanting to backslide. In that moment I
realized that what these people see as being saved, I see as conversion.
A process, but sometimes a defining moment where you make the decision
to change yourself for the better and follow the Savior. Most Baptists
think it's a "one and done" deal and that it's ok if they backslide
because they're saved and can do whatever they want, but I think Jean
will be one who will come to understand it more as conversion as I
have.
I don't have an update on much that I
talked about last week, but the members of the branch that are going
through some tough medical things are all doing well as of now. The one
that is getting a bone marrow transplant, it's so cool to hear how the
procedure works! I'm amazed at medical technology these days, miracles
are happening!
We weren't able to meet with
Felicia and Cameo or Frankie this week, but we did meet with Carrie! We
taught her the Plan of Salvation yesterday and she really liked it. We
invited her to be baptized on February 28th.
I hope she prays about it and decides to go for it! I love Carrie
because she listens to the Spirit. A couple weeks ago when we went by
she said she wasn't going to open the door because she was home by
herself and she didn't know who it was but she said something told her
to open the door. It was us, and we had a good lesson. Then yesterday
she said she was really busy and had been doing a lot that morning and
was tired, and then she stopped mid-sentence and was like "Oh, why not,
y'all come in." Haha. She is the cutest old lady ever :) I feel like
we're only teaching people in their 80s and 90s.... haha. What better
time to be baptized??! :) Great things are going to happen in this area
because there are some pretty fantastic people. I'm glad I am expecting
to stay this next transfer! :)
Oh!! Dee Dee,
one of the elders' investigators, got baptized this week!!! She got
baptized on Tuesday because it was her birthday and she wanted it to be
her "spiritually reborn" birthday :) It was so fun! We made a cake and
sang happy birthday after she got baptized :) Pictures to follow!
This
next week will be crazy as Sister Thomas prepares to head home, and
next week I will have a new companion. I'll be excited to tell y'all
about her! Have a wonderful week and I will talk to ya next week!
Love,
Sister Applegate
beginning of my letter to Sister Taylor. Can you tell our personalites? :) I love that girl!!!!
Dee Dee's baptism! I love her personality, haha. She asked our branch mission leader to baptize her. Cool experience!
Dee and Daniel
Dee Dee and her husband, Brian. He hates being in pictures...
Exchanges with Sister Taylor!!! :)
After our mission
conference in Macon, caught up with Sister Gray, Sister Brizzee, Sister
Richardson and Elder Tipping from the MTC! The rest of our zone was
around there somewhere.
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