Week 74- Lilburn, GA- English- Joy to the World!

Have the donkey and the elephant disappointed you?
Turn to the lamb.

This was outside a church here this week.
I love Georgia.

If there's one thing I've learned it is that because of Jesus Christ,
all wrongs will one day be made right for those that love and follow
him.
Because of him, we can have joy and peace even when we have trials.
Remember our friend who's husband has the drug addiction? Well he
relapsed this week. And when he does, he disappears for a few days.
It's very scary for his wife and kids because they don't know when
he'll come back, and when he does it's never a pleasant sight. We
spoke with our friend and she was in tears about what to do. We
offered the elders to come give them priesthood blessings and she
gladly accepted. They had to give the blessings outside because of
mission rules, and it was pretty cold. But when the spirit came,
the cold disappeared. We each felt the warmth of the spirit and the
girls had the biggest smiles across their faces. Their step mother was
so surprised, "I feel so happy, but I shouldn't!" That is the miracle
of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He isn't going to necessarily take away
our trials, but because of Him our hearts can still be full and we can
have peace. It reminded me of Elder Nelson's talk from this last
conference: "Joy and Spiritual Survival". I loved what he had to say:
"When the focus of our lives is on God’s plan of salvation, which
President Thomas S. Monson just taught us, and Jesus Christ and His
gospel, we can feel joy regardless of what is happening--or not
happening--in our lives. Joy comes from and because of Him. He is the
source of all joy. We feel it at Christmastime when we sing, “Joy to
the world, the Lord is come.” And we can feel it all year round. For
Latter-day Saints, Jesus Christ is joy!
      That is why our missionaries leave their homes to preach His
gospel. Their goal is not to increase the number of Church members.
Rather, our missionaries teach and baptize to bring joy to the people
of the world!"
We can have joy because God's authority has been restored and
therefore we can be made clean and pure through repentance and
baptism, as well as receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. We then have
the right to access those feelings of peace, comfort, and joy, even
though we live in "perilous times".
I love and miss you!
Love,
Hermana Wallis

This week Sister Gonzalez and Sister Ray go home! I'm going to miss
them so much!
Our zone and physical therapy adventure. Arm is good. I still have to
wear the splint. I just took it off for pictures. I'm sick of it.

To write to Madeleine please use: madeleine.wallis@myldsmail.net

Week 73- Miracles, Lilburn, GA

I love the people here. 😄

I can now lay my hand flat on a table to paint my nails. You can say
PT has been going well. 👐🏼

This week was absolutely amazing! Miracle after miracle. The Lord has
been so good!

I don't even really know where to start.
On Tuesday we went tracting at this random street I picked during
planning on Friday. When we showed up it turned out to be in one of
the ritziest parts of our area.  I was
basically thinking this was one of her stupidest idea I've had my
whole mission. Really I just felt really intimidated because my whole
mission has been in a different neighborhood. But my motto for the
rest of my mission is "Fourth Floor, Last Door". So we prayed and
started knocking. To see the talk she is referring to:

 https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/10/fourth-floor-last-door?lang=eng

The first people to reject us gave us dessert! They were Hindu and
having a holiday so they shared with us! Then we saw this woman taking
out her trash so we ran to help her and we started talking with her.
She said she's been "done with organized religion" for a long time,
but has always tried to live the 11 commandments. (Love the Lord and
your neighbor+10 commandments) We shared that part of our message is
that God's authority has been lost, but we are here because it's been
restored. She let us come back Wednesday and when we shared the how
the gospel has been restored, she thought it was beautiful! She had
even read the pamphlet and committed to read the Book of Mormon. She's
had a lot of people over since the Hurricane (pretty much everywhere
is loaded with hurricane evacuees) so we haven't really taught her
again, but she's really excited and tells us she's been looking for a
change!
Also on Wednesday we started meeting with our new friend who wants to
get baptized at the end of the month! She has a friend who's a member
in Norcross, and she decided she wanted to join the church! She even
came to our relief society activity on Thursday and loved it! She is
so sweet and very sincere. Also she has 9 kids.
On Friday we tracted this side street we just felt like we needed to
knock and the first door let us in. As we taught one of the girls said
she's been looking for a church and that she wanted missionaries to
visits her in New York! That night we stopped by a Walmart to contact
until 9, and we were also looking for otter pops to give out on
Saturday, and the Walmart employee who was helping us just began to
open up about how she's been thinking a lot about how she needs to get
back to being close with the Savior.
On Saturday we went to the street with the girls and kept on knocking
doors. The next door also just immediately let us in. They were
refugees from Iraq and they took us in as their own. They were so
sweet as they showed us pictures of their daughters. They even fed us
dinner!
Then we felt like we needed to visit this less active that doesn't
really let us in ever. They weren't home, but we figured the Lord led
us there for a reason. So we started knocking doors. We found first a
guy from Vietnam painting his garage. We tried talking with him, but
he wasn't super interested. We left him a sticky note to
followhim.mormon.org and invited him to check it out because he could
change the Language if he wanted. His name is Kan.
Then we met Melvin. When he opened the door, the first thing he said
was, " oh. I know what this is." We had a nice conversation about my
arm and his finger, which was also operated on. Then Sister Selch told
him the truth: "We've been praying to find those God is preparing to
hear our message and we were led to you. Can we share with you our
message which is of great value and importance?" He said he was
alright and the wind was blowing super hard so told us to follow the
wind. (Important detail.)
Then we met Arturo. He had been recently divorced so we shared the
beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the good news that His
authority has been restored! As we shared the Book of Mormon with him
he touched his heart. After he read Moroni 10:3-5 he looked up and
asked us when we could come back. So we made a return appointment.
When we went back out to the street Melvin ran out his door: I changed
my mind! I want to know what the message is! It's just. The wind. And
you prayed. I think this message could be for me.
Yes Melvin. Yes. This message is most definitely for you.
Then last night we had a little bit of time left so we stopped by
another friend's. We've never met her at home because her husband is a
former alcoholic and is struggling with drug addiction. They've had a
rough week because he's relapsed. Their kids have been staying at a
friends and honestly, we'd never met the husband because she's been
nervous about how he'd respond. Well when we showed up he ran outside
: It's the Mormon girls! Y'all are my favorites! Let me tell ya!
You see, about a week ago we had dinner with our stake president and
he sent us home with lots of dinner left overs.
Which we gave to this guy's wife. (Sorry, not sorry?)
He invited us right on in and told us about his journey with the Lord.
He then was very interested and listened very sincerely as we talked
about Christ's atonement and the significance of the restoration. He
even committed to read the Book of Mormon.
There's no way the Lord's hand wasn't in that. He knew the bible very
well and was not shy with his opinion, but was very open and listened
to us and considered what we had to say.

Sorry this is forever long. As we've been praying to be led to those
the Lord is preparing, we've been finding them.  All I know is that
the Lord's promises are sure:
“And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before
your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my
Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to
bear you up” (D&C 84:88).

I love this work and am so grateful to be here. I know our Savior
lives and that He knows and loves us personally.

I love you!
Hermana Wallis

Also. I got permission to visit families in the Spanish branch here.
The Lord is so good!

To write to Madeleine please use: madeleine.wallis@myldsmail.net

Week 72- Is this a book club

"Is this a book club?" Why, yes it is. The Book of Mormon is our reading. We meet every Sunday for three hours and we'll even come help you read during the week. When you're done we might even have a baptism! 

Haha twice in one day someone came up to us asking, "is this a book club?" We've been praying that the Lord would guide us to those who are ready to receive our message and people just came walking in! It's been great.

However, we felt like something was missing. It was the spirit. It was power. So we reevaluated ourselves and made some changes. We then prayed for spiritual earthquakes like in Mosiah 27:11-12 and the Lord lead us to our dinner apt. We thought she'd been fine and active in the church, but we learned that she had been harboring deep resentment against the church for some injustices that had/do occur in her life and other member's imperfect reactions. While listening to her I felt inspired to simply testify of Jesus Christ and His atonement. We started by testifying of the truth that our Heavenly Father loves us. He rejoices in our successes and weeps with us in our sorrows. I felt the spirit guide my words as I said what I know to be true: Because of Christ's ultimate sacrifice, one day all the wrongs may be made right. We come to church to remember HIM. He who lived a sinless life but willingly took upon himself all of our sins and paid the price for our sorrows. Alone. He who was falsely accused, beaten, whipped, and hung on the cross by His own people. She went quiet and then said that when you think about Him, you realize that nothing else really matters. 

Throughout conference something I wrote was "Remember Jesus". Unfortunately it can be all to easy to forget about Him, but when we can remember Him, how much else really matters? Charity can begin to replace pride as we learn to forgive and forget, and reach out to others in Christlike love and service. This can come in many different forms, but something that has changed my perspective has been this quote from Sister Reeves: "Dear sisters, our Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ, know us and love us. They know when we are in pain or suffering in any way. They do not say, “It’s OK that you’re in pain right now because soon everything is going to be all right. You will be healed, or your husband will find a job, or your wandering child will come back.” They feel the depth of our suffering, and we can feel of Their love and compassion in our suffering."

More than anything this sister longed for an empathetic, listening ear, and maybe a hug. Is that too hard to give? The Lord knows the sacrifices we make and cherishes them. 

While watching conference my arm, (I know, the arm!) became just extremely uncomfortable. I just wanted to shake it out and stretch it and pop it. Like an internal itch. I became discouraged and began to silently pray that the Lord could just let me know that He was still aware of me. Then Elder Kazuhiko Yamashita spoke. He spoke about an elder with one leg who had to be reassigned. I felt grateful I still had 4 limbs and an overwhelming sense of gratitude that I can continue to serve here. He spoke about Being Ambitious for Christ. How grateful am I to be Ambitious for Christ! 

I love and miss you so much! 

Love always, 

Hermana Wallis

I thinned my hair.

Week 71, Lilburn, GA- English Speaking

Thank you for the best birthday ever!!! I am so blessed! Thank you for
all of the kind notes and emails.
So my birthday: Spanish elders got me a cake; lunch with Donna and
Harland, and missionary work!
This week we've been doing a lot of finding. Talking with a lot of
people. We found a family from India that's pretty excited. They are
so sweet, but we are definitely being led by the spirit in how to
teach them!
Women's conference was amazing, like always. It's so wonderful to hear
the words of living prophets and apostles. It made me wonder, "Why
have I chosen to not partake of the living words of Christ until my
mission?" It's truly a miracle. As I've been able to study on my
mission, much of what I've learned that changed me has come from
studying talks from General Conference. I would say the biggest thing
is learning that God's whole plan is centered on Jesus Christ and
focused on the family. I'd always heard it, but I never really
understood it. Additionally I know that the speakers are inspired to
share with us the things that we need at this day and time. A friend
with whom we do service even came and loved it! It was very sweet as
she said she felt that Elder Uctdorf's talk was written just for her.
I know that Jesus Christ lives and that His church is here!

I know I'm where I'm supposed to be. It's amazing, the peace that we
feel when we choose the Lord's ways over our ways.
Sister Selch is cute, 
Chickens! Wow. I'm happy for William!
You're amazing. I love that your stake did a SERVICE ACTIViTY. 
Checked up on my arm today. I will start pt next week!
Just FYI, I woke up with a stomach bug, so if you want to pray for me
with that, that would be awesome.

Thank you for all the support and love!
Love always,
Hermana Wallis

If you want to write to Madeleine:
madeleine.wallis@myldsmail.net

The missionaries gave her a cake!

This is sweet Donna and her husband Harland who drove 1 1/2 hours to 

bring me my birthday packages!  She is also the angel that rescued her after

her bike accident- we all love her!

 My great new companion Sister Selch:)

 Two of my favorite people Donna and Harlan

People are so NICE- look at that cake!

Week 70- Transferred, English speaking. Lilburn, GA

So on Thursday I received a call from president. And essentially was told
we needed our trio to be broken up.  So, after some contemplation I volunteered
to be the one to go to the new area. This has been so sad. I honestly have been partially at a loss. Life
happens. I already talked about God's will and sacrifice.  I guess
this is the moment when I really realize that the mission is not about
me. At all.
I called president Sunday morning: " I know I volunteered for this...
But this is really sad... I just need some reassurance..."
He said he knew I was inspired to volunteer because first off my
companion needed me. I was wanting
specific blessings like " for this sacrifice I promise I you ...." But
instead Luke 17:32-33 came into mind.
"Remember Lot's wife.  Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever 
shall lose his life shall preserve it."I loved Spanish. And my heart is still broken because I will end my mission in 
English, but I can't look behind
me. I can only offer my heart to the lord and he takes it. I'm happy,
honestly. The members are excited and my companion is really sweet.
We've been talking with a lot of people and one of our investigators I
even taught with president while I was recovering from surgery. She's
so sweet. I don't really know what's ahead, I just have to trust the
Lord.
I've realized that I think the blessings of being humble before being
compelled to humility could just mean that we are in a better place to
accept and be at peace when we have trials. There is no " trial-free"
tickets for life. But there are always blessings! The senior
missionaries took me out for lunch for my birthday and president said
I could do special assignments with the Spanish branch...although
we'll see how that works with the gas shortage...  We're now walking
everywhere. 😁
I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve. I know this is a great work.
I'm love you.
Hermana/Sister Wallis

Week 69- Roswell, GA. Update: I'm still in a splint. My wrist is still brokenish/ healing. It still hurts sometimes.

Update: I'm still in a splint. My wrist is still brokenish/ healing.
It still hurts sometimes.

Anyways! This was my first full week back! And it came with full
force. There were bible bashers and doors slammed while at the same
time there were free lemonade stands, Puerto Rican testimonies,
commitments to keep the commandments and hearts began to mend and
heal. How much better can it get?
We found an apartment complex full of just Hispanics. They weren't too
excited to see us the first time we came to visit, but we went back
later in the week and decided to just love the people. It's amazing
what love can do. We were received by a family who asked us to come
back before we were finished!
This weekend we worked a lot with a family of recent converts. The
daughter told us about there mom's word of wisdom struggle. It was
crazy because on Sunday the word of wisdom was the Sunday school class
and then the relief society lesson on honesty became a lesson on
living with integrity and somehow that connected to how difficult it
was for everyone to quit coffee when they met the missionaries. This
mother stood up and bore her testimony about how she knows the word of
wisdom is revelation from God because of how difficult it has been to
change and keep! The commandments really are there for our protection.

I know I've said this, but Having a broken arm is really humbling. (I
know, back to the arm...)Sometimes I just want to take off my splint
and just be normal again, but then my arm hurts if I try to move it
and I realize I don't think it works that way. I think the Lord will continue to show
his hand in other ways while changing and strengthening me. (I could
always use a lesson on humility...) It's really crazy because over a
year ago I wrote about how in the MTC I was struggling hard core. Then
at a devotional this woman spoke about miracles. She said that 2 weeks
after she'd had her 7th baby she fell down the stairs and broke her
right collarbone. She was put in a cast for two weeks but she as a
mother of 7 children under the age of 12 and an infant, she was not a
good patient. So they had to rebrake her collarbone and completely
immobilized her right arm with this pin pole thing. She was devastated
as she felt so helpless with just her left hand. Then she was reminded
of Mormon 9:18-21. As she said prayers of gratitude each night
miracles began to happen. She was able to accomplish many things with
just her left hand such as tying a shoe! God didn't immediately heal
her arm, but he gave her miracles and the strength she needed to
endure.
Flash forward some error time... To me. And I've found myself in a
somewhat similar, though definitely not as drastic, situation.  The
Lord has definitely come forth and shown his hand in so many ways. (I
can now tie a shoe with just my left hand as well, in case you were
wondering...)
I feel so privileged to draw closer to the savior through this
experience. I feel a greater amount of empathy and understanding for
others on so many levels. I'm grateful for a Heavenly Father who is
loves us enough to inflict us. He sees the beginning and the ending.
He is all knowing, and all loving.

I love and miss you dearly. Thank you so much for the kind notes of
encouragement.
Love always,
Hermana Wallis

{Chick fill A
Carne Asada with members
Service!
My attempt at a heart.}

Week 68- Post operation

I am so grateful to be here in Cherokee. Since the moment we got here
I have felt so much love from the members and my companions. Last
Monday night I returned to be with my companions. On Tuesday I was
exhausted still so I stayed with some members while my companions
worked. I did the same on Wednesday. On Thursday we did service at the
Shiloh food pantry. I wasn't much help other than emotional support...
But on Saturday I was able to open the door for the people who come to
get food! Even though It's hard, I am so grateful to be here. I don't
have to look hard for opportunities to just "get over myself" and
focus on helping others. On Sunday I translated for sacrament meeting.
It was fun because I discovered that my Spanish was improved a lot! We
had a free lemonade stand on Saturday and yesterday. My arm has made
some great contacts: "what happened to your arm?" "You know those
Mormon missionaries on the bikes?" " yea.." " I was one of those... I
fell off the bike" it makes for a good laugh and has made for some
great conversations about big questions like "why do bad things happen
to good people?" And the importance and loving and serving others (my
complete dependence on my companions). And humility. This week I kind
of discovered that I can't do a lot of things I used to doing on my
own. I'm figuring things out though. But it's been very humbling and
has provided a lot of growing experiences. I really don't like asking
for help, or being dependent in any way, so it's been a big change.
Especially because I came here to serve others and now I have to be
served. I am just so grateful to work now because it's when we work in
the service of others that we forget about ourselves and grow closer
to the savior.
 Luke 17:33

This week I realized how much my arm actually hurts. I feel really grateful because we were on top of the pain medication. The last time I took prescription was Saturday after the surgery. Now I think all the pain meds have left my body, yea. It hurts. Sleeping is awful. But ibuprofen helps. 

More than anything has just been realizing the difference in the quality of life I'm living now. I can't do many things that I could do before. In relief society we sang " love one another" acapella and I just started crying because that was my favorite hymn to play. 

But I'm figuring things out. I was put in a sling on Friday so now I can shower. This weekend I was finally able to wash my own hair ( left handed). I'm figuring things out. I'm just grateful I still have an arm and that this won't be forever. 

And I'm grateful to be here where it's not hard to look for service opportunities. Well just not focus on myself in general. Because if I were home I'm pretty sure I'd just be watching that movie about the girl who's arm got bit off by a shark on re-run feeling sorry for myself. 

"President Thomas S. Monson, who has understood and lived the
admonition to love, said: “I believe the Savior is telling us that
unless we lose ourselves in service to others, there is little purpose
to our own lives. Those who live only for themselves eventually
shrivel up and … lose their lives, while those who lose themselves in
service to others grow and flourish--and in effect save their lives.”-
He asks us to be His Hands, April 1016
I know that Heavenly Father has a plan. The plan of happiness. He
loves us and truly wants us to be happy. I am so grateful for our
Savior Jesus Christ, and to know that because of him, everything will
work out.
I hope you all have a great week!
I love and miss you!
Hermana Wallis