Pollen Season!!

 It's spring!! It's 75 degrees and sunny! It just feels amazing outside and it's the best hearing all the birds chirping in the trees! Sometimes it's rainy (that's just how the forecast works out here I guess) but its all good because I love the rain. There's pollen absolutely everywhere though! There's a good coat of it over the entire car, so we're pollinating every plant we pass as we're driving! 

This week was just amazing and very interesting (good and bad) 

People we're teaching:

-> We met with Janelle! We met her just outside her house when we went to knock her neighbors door (who wasn't home). And she is so prepared to receive the gospel!! We taught her the restoration and gave her a book of Mormon and invited her to read and pray about it and she was like "I absolutely will, I really want to know for myself if it's from God!" She's amazing!! 

-> We had lunch with Rick and he's changed so much since he's been baptized! Just has this light around him and he's so happy! And he made it to church on time without a reminder, which was a miracle! His friend Tina joined us for lunch and she said she's noticed that same change in him. It's so amazing to see the affect of the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost! 

->  We got Lisa on date for baptism!!! I love Lisa SO much and I'm so so excited for her to be baptized on March 18th! 

Interesting moment:

-> I got kicked out of a house for the first time on Wednesday. It was not fun haha. We had a few not so nice interactions with people that day but also good ones. It just shows that there is opposition in all things and there's a lot we can learn from these experiences! 

Funny Moment:

->  Y'all!! I did it again! I left the car unlocked and running during Janelles lesson! It was a miracle it wasn't stolen haha!

 

I want to give a shout out to the Din family! I love yall and appreciate your support! I'll start doing shout outs if yall would like me to, just write me and tell me about your week! ❤️

Love you all,

Sister Alexander

Pictures

Did a river walk in Augusta for p day

We visited a house in the woods 

Far from home / Close to home

 Brinlee wrote a couple of weeks ago about things reminding her of family.  She had a dream about her mom.  Got a craving for one of her favorite meals and made the recipe she sent out to her.  Saw this street sign that made her think of Aynslee.  And being in Harlem as her first area just like it was her Dad's.  Just different states/missions.  And this horned toad statue on the river walk she went on that reminded her of the horned toad we caught out in the desert years ago.

Transfers!

 This week felt a little long, haha! We had transfers on Thursday! My companion Sis. Peterson went home so me and Sis. Osborne got a new one! Her name is Sister Lee and she is amazing! She's a great missionary! 

Not much happened this week. A lot of our friends we've been working with haven't been progressing :( Eric said he wants to take a break from meeting with us, which was really sad! We found 6 new people who are interested this last week though! 

We got to visit our friend Rose who is in the hospital recovering from her knee replacement surgery. She is doing good. She was way more open to us during that visit! She's still in pain so hopefully we can get her a priesthood blessing soon! Something really cool though; she told us she knows she's going to see her parents again after this life as a fact! And that made me so excited because that was something she doubted before. 

We got Rick to the temple!! That was such a special day! It was really busy since it's a night where all the missionaries in the mission can bring their friends who have been recently baptized to the temple. Rick didn't do baptisms because he didn't want to get wet haha but he got to watch others do baptisms for the dead and he did confirmations! I just love the temple and it was great to bring Rick there too! I saw Sister Flint and Sister Phillips there!! They were in my MTC District! 

Spiritual

->  Church was amazing! Everyone focused on the sermon on the mount and the beattitudes and it was so good! I learned that in some language (latin?) Mor means love and Mon means everlasting so the Book of Mormon is the book of everlasting love! The more I thought about that, I really saw the love of Heavenly Father in the book of Mormon!

Funny Moments

->  I was making meatballs and rice for dinner (my first time cooking on the mission!) I thought it would be pretty easy... it was not. The stove was being weird and heated the sauce way too hot and too fast! So I had to recruit Sis Osborne to help me haha. It was delicious by though!

->  I'm the designated driver this transfer and accidently left the car running for an hour when we were at a members house for dinner. Nobody noticed so we're just going to keep that on the down low haha!🤦‍♀️

->  James reached out to us and told us he is interested in learning more about the gospel! He said "considering we're talking about the gospel do yall want to meet at Chick-fil-A?" Haha! 

First Baptism!

 Rick got baptized!! Saturday and Sunday were such great days! The actual baptism was good. Rick doesn't like cold water so we made sure it would be warm, but it still wasn't warm enough for Rick haha! Getting in the font he kept going "OoOoWh!" Haha. Then on Sunday he was confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and recieved the gift of the Holy Ghost! That was so powerful! And it was crazy to think that I invited Rick to be baptized just on my 3rd day! 

I love the primary song "When I Am Baptized" especially the chorus "I want my life to be as clean as earth right after rain" because it was raining all day Saturday! I am just so grateful that Rick has made the decision to be baptized and have a clean start! 

Miracles!

☆ Thank you all for your prayers!!! Eric reached out to us this week and asked us some questions he's been struggling with! AND he came to Ricks baptism!! 

->  After much struggle on our part, God provided a way for Rick to come to the temple with our whole mission on Tuesday! Seriously, nothing was working out until we were at the point of giving up. That's when bishop called and said he figured it out! All we had to do was find a ride... a lot harder than we thought. The temple trip was on valentines day in the evening and no one here will drive at night. But we had a prompting of who to call, we did, and she said she'll take us!

Struggles... because being a missionary is not easy haha

->  Both my companions are almost at the end of their missions and this Sunday a recently returned missionary spoke and a recently called missionary spoke, it just made me miss my family a lot. But as I thought about this on Sunday I realized that God was showing me how much I've grown since I've started and how much more I'll grow in my time here. There's no growth in the comfort zone and no comfort in the growth zone. However, Jesus Christ is my comfort in the growth zone! 

Doctrine & Coventants 19:23 

"Learn of me, and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my Spirit, and you shall have peace in me"

Funny Moment

->  the power went out when we were at our friend Lisa's house so we had a lesson in the dark with candles as our only light haha! The thunder shook the house! Im not usually scared of thunder but it rattled the house and was so loud it made me jump! Also Sis. Peterson dropped her phone on the ground on our way into her house so her phone was outside in the pouring rain for 2 hours! (It was okay!) 

Please Pray For...

->  Trent to meet with us! He's on date to be baptized this month but he keeps canceling on us :(

Pictures

▪︎Rick's baptism! I wore my special dress that I've worn for every big moment of my mission so far! 

▪︎Had Waffle House for dinner 

▪︎Last Pday we went to a lake at sunset and had a picnic while we painted! 

▪︎Went hiking also near a lake

▪︎Our friend Lisa 

▪︎Celebrated Sis. Osborne's 21st birthday! 

P-day at the lake

Sister Osborne's birthday fell on P-day this week.  She wanted to go to the lake to paint and then get some Chick-fil-a.  They got to see a gorgeous South Carolina Sunset while they were there.

Crochet

 Brinlee started crocheting a few months before her mission and made some super cute projects that were pretty impressive.  She's been making little gifts for people like these little whales with some thread and needles she found there.

Craziness

 A lot has happened this week!! We had a lot of exchanges (where we swap missionaries from different areas for a day) and my companions had Zone Leader Conference so I had to be "babysat" Haha. So I've met a lot of different missionaries and learned from each one of them!

One of our friends, Eric (who is so close to baptism), hasn't been talking with us recently and we have had a lot of lessons fall through this week. That's been a little frustrating and sad but I've really seen that when something falls through, God will give you different (and sometimes even better) opportunities!

Miracles!! 

☆ Trent, who we just met on Sunday, texted us, "when can I be baptized?" WHAT?! I was jumping up and down I was so excited!! He had met with missionaries before and was almost baptized then but for whatever reason stopped meeting with them, but has decided to be baptized Feb 25th! 

->  accidently knocked the wrong door but found a sweet lady who wants to learn more about the gospel! 

Tender Mercies

->  got a free drink at Sarge's Soda Shop :D

->  I saw that my family is with me!🥲 The apartment complex the other sisters live at is called Ansley (really close to my sisters name) and I saw a road called Alexander Dr. Little things like these mean the world to me because I know it's God showing me He's aware of me 

->  I got to see Sister Hoyal !! She was in my MTC District and it was a blessing to see her again! 

Funny Moment

☆ Oh man, this is a good story! We had a lesson at a members house, and because Rick has a flip phone and no Google maps he had to follow us to get there. After the lesson, we told him to follow us until we got to the main road since he could get home from there, but when we were in the right turning lane we saw him get in the left turning lane🤦‍♀️ Sis. Peterson was waving out the window trying to tell him he's going the wrong way but he just smiled and waved as he continued driving the wrong way! Long story short, we had to drive back and help him get on the main road haha!! 

Please Pray For...

-> Rose to have a fast recovery from her surgery 

-> Rick to see the importance of church 

-> Eric to meet with us 

Pictures

1. Proof

2. Exchanges

3. Street sign

4. Sister Osborne ran over an ant hill

Vlog?

We aren't sure what the context is behind this, but it's goofy and short and fun to watch, so here you go...