 |
| Georgia Scenery |
 |
| Close Call with a snake |
 |
| Southern creature |
 |
| Kissing a frog didn't work for Sister Elliott |
 |
| Our new Georgia T shirts |
 |
| Hi Ya'll From Georgia |
 |
| Red is for courage, Yellow for service.....and blue is for purity in thought and deed. I will be happy for this is my creed. |
Time to break the suspense and explain Might Miracle May. As
we learn in Mormon 9:18-21, God has NOT ceased to be a God of miracles. Indeed
many mighty miracles happen everyday for those with the faith to see
them. This month our mission has dubbed "Mighty Miracle May."
Our goal is for every companionship to have a baptism on May 23rd. That is
approximately 100 baptisms! Brothers and Sisters please pray for us to achieve
this goal! We are far from where we need to be to achieve our inspired goal of
600 baptisms this year and we know it will take great faith and work to get
there. We are all praying and working for this goal to be achieved.
I'm coming to love Georgia more and more every day. It is so
pretty here! I love the trees along the roads! Here's some random facts about
our area I believe I failed to mention in my last letter. St. Marys is the
second oldest city in the country. There is a Navy base here with specialized
nuclear submarines. A lot of members here work in the Navy. I don't know how
all of the Navy wives handle it! It's really common to see men and women
dressed in Navy uniforms. We actually just saw one now as I was writing
this! Our ward covers all of Camden County. There are only about two
black people in our ward even though
there are tons of Black people in Georgia. We just need to baptize some!
A normal Sunday will have 125ish people. The area is very diverse. A
sketchy trailer can be on the same road as a huge, nice house. The streets all have
names rather than numbers. Bishop told
us St. Marys has the tallest gas price sign on Highway 40. So it's a pretty big
deal!
The first miracle of the week was Monday night when we had to go
to this sketchy motel to teach a less active sister. We were worried we might
be in danger. When it was dark out and we were leaving, the Elders happened to
be outside in the parking lot talking to her husband and brother in law. We
felt so much better having someone we knew to make sure we got back to our car.
Tuesday we enjoyed district meeting. We are the only sisters in
the district again! The Zone leaders were gone so I got to help check iPads
with the district leader. We also have
the cutest senior couple in our district- the Straits. They even go out
tracting! So cute! We also helped a sister pack up her house for moving.
That night we had dinner with a family in the Navy base and were able to see
some other potential investigators we have on base. We saw some deer that night
too!
Wednesday we went back and helped with more packing. We were
working in the three year olds’ room while the mother was in the boys room. The
three year old kept trying to join us in the room (which is not in line with
the rules of the white handbook) and she was unpacking everything we packed. We
couldn't pick her up and take her out of the room (also against WH rules) so I
finally coaxed her out of the room and we had to lock her out! We felt so bad
but we could not have her in there! Haha, it was really kind of funny too. I
felt like I was about seven again when Sarah and I would lock her little
brothers out of her room so we could play.
That night we wanted to have a good golden hour, but things kept
coming up, and then finally everything fell through. We went to the street we
had chosen to knock and it had a whole two houses on it. One was abandoned. No
one was home at the other so we knocked some of the surrounding houses. We
finally came to another road with three houses. One abandoned, one with a
locked fence, and one where a wonderful woman named Lynette lived. We began
teaching her and her nine year old son came out. He was so excited about everything
we said and when Lynette saw his reaction her countenance changed. We left them
with a Book of Mormon and will follow up this week. We also almost stepped on a
snake on our way back to our car, but I spotted it before Sister Elliott
stepped on its head. That was a miracle too!
We saw Tyrone again on Thursday. I'm slightly worried from some of
his comments that he is going to take
the Book of Mormon to his preacher and go look up anti, but he listened
politely, and he asked us to come back this week. We also stopped by the
home of a couple that was found by sisters in November. It was 8:50 at night
but Ms. Henderson answered the door and said she and her husband had just been
talking about us. They wanted to meet again so we set up a day to come back this
week.
Friday we had Courtney, a recent RM, come with us to teach Ronnie.
It was so good to have a member present lesson! It really makes a huge
difference in the lesson too!
Saturday was a weird day schedule wise. We had a Stake Relief Society
activity (well technically they divided our stake into zones for RS activities
so it was really only three wards). Hardly anyone came but it was really good.
We learned about provident living. Right after that we set up for the baptism
of Kevin, the Elders investigator. It went really well! Unfortunately it wasn't
announced early enough for many people to come. That night we were able
to go see an investigator named Lori. She had a baptismal date for this month,
but she had a baby and it kind of threw things off. Gratefully we were able to
stop by and read with her. She is so sweet (and her baby is soo cute!)
Sunday President and Sister Craig came to our ward. President
trained our Ward Council before church, and then spoke in Sacrament Meeting and
taught a combined third hour. It is always so wonderful to see the Craigs. I
just love them so much! I had been having a hard time lately and I was grateful
president had time after church to talk and to give me a blessing. I have no
doubt that callings in this church come from God and those with keys to preside
are led by the spirit.
We are involving our members in Mighty Miracle May also by
inviting them to look for miracles each day and share them with their families.
Priscilla even helped us make a super cute poster for the primary children to
post their miracles on each Sunday in May. We are excited! I would love to hear
about the miracles all y'all see each day also! Miracles have not ceased! I see
them everyday!
With great love,
Sister Murray
3 Nephi 5:13 Behold, I
am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to
declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life.
