Hello!
SO REAL NORMAL TRANSFERS!!!
I am staying in Big Shanty, and will still be in a trio! I get 2 new
companions! That's 7 companions! and then 5 trainers! Sister Kafu and
Sister Castleton. I haven't met Sister Castleton yet, so I can tell
you about her next week.
Sister Hanks is going to UGA and Sister Patterson is taking over the
Kennesaw ward!
So Sister Patterson will move into the other apartment in our
apartment complex and she gets a new companion.
This week:
Tuesday: We had District meeting! And I got the case and keyboard!
YAY!!! (if you sent the other package to the mission office, I will be
able to get it on Wedesday... or next Tuesday for sure)
It was funny because for one of the trainings, the elder asked all the
missionaries who were on their first transfer, what their expectations
of a mission were and what they reallly were. Everyone just laughed at
mine because mine were:
Well, I was called Spanish... So should we start with the fact that it
never really clicked that I was staying in the US?! So I actually was
shocked every time our investigators have plumbing, or that I had
plumbing AND AC! (I blame Zoe Gibbs for that...) And besides that,
Instead of being sent Spanish speaking, I was sent English YSA. On a
college campus! I don't know how much further away from Spanish
speaking you can get than that... Oh, and THEN after 2 weeks they took
my trainer away from me, and I had to take over my area in a trio! and
then also work in another area. So pretty much, I just don't even
expect anything anymore, because I just really never know what's going
to happen... LOL welcome to life!
Zone meeting was fun though because I got to see Sister Stenquist! and
we all then went out to lunch! It was super fun!
Wednesday: I had my first exchange! Sister Kafu is an STL (sister
training leader) and she came and joined me for 24 hours, Sister
Patterson went with Sister Kafu's companion, and Sister Hanks went on
splits with a girl from the Kennesaw ward.
So I can tell you about Sister Kafu! She is super cute and fun! She's
tongan and is a blast. She and Sister Hanks are good friends because
they served together (not as companions) in their first areas. It was
a lot of fun. I'm really excited!
For the Fourth of July we had breakfast with the Kennesaw ward, and
then we went to the food pantry, where we were able to make the video!
Then we had lunch with the Murdock's, then we cleaned the branch, then
we went to a barbecue with these 3 cute young families. They were
hilarious! It was like being in an episode of Friends, married!
So on Sunday's we've been attending the Kennesaw ward, because it
starts at 9, and then the Big Shanty ward, because it starts at 11. I
love Kennesaw. It reminds me so much of the Orchard Ward. Never a dull
moment!
In Big Shanty I bore my testimony on Christ's atonement and how HE is
the way. I talked about Moses and the children of Israel when the
firey serpents came the people asked Moses to pray for them to be
taken away. Instead of removing the serpents, or removing the trial,
the Lord provided a way for the people to be saved. He told Moses to
put a serpent on a staph and when the people were bitten, they just
had to look at the staph and they would be saved. He provided a way
for them to live. I compared this to 1 Nephi 3:7 and how it says that
the Lord provides a way to accomplish the trials He asks of us. That
was is our Savior Jesus Christ and His atonement. Heavenly Father
doesn't expect us to overcome trials on our own, in fact, He doesn't
want us to. He is our Father. He loves us. He wants us to turn to Him.
He is waiting for us to turn to Him. Turning to Him can be compared to
the children of Israel turning to the staph to be healed. It seems so
simple to just pray or read our scriptures that it almost makes us
wonder what good it would do. But those simple habits of sincere
prayer and scripture study, turning ourselves to Jesus Christ and His
atonement, are what enable us to accomplish anything the Lord asks of
us. Some of the children of Israel did turn to the staph and were
saved, but some didn't and perished. It sounds so silly to us, because
their means of salvation were so simple, but it is the same for us.
It's all about the basics. We have to ask ourselves, "Are we looking
at the staph? Are we turning to our Savior?" Our Heavenly Father has
not promised to remove the storms, but to hold our hands while we walk
through them. He is our loving Heavenly Father. He loves us so much. I
am so grateful to be involved in His work. It is so neat to think that
this is my job- this is what my time is completely devoted to right
now- HIM! I love it so much.
I love all of you and miss you!
Love,
Sister Wallis
Zone Conference
Sister Stenquist
