Week 65- Roswell, GA, Spanish Speaking

Ok! To start lets just pick up on that woman we were working with last
week. (The one with the flowers) So we visited her yesterday to go
visit her neighbor she wanted us to teach, but unfortunately her
neighbor wasn't home. So she just kept on trying to take us to her
other neighbors! But none of them were home. Then it came down to this
American woman. Our friend told us, "She's American, but you speak
English. I bet she'll accept the gospel." So she knocked on the door
and sure enough this beautiful blond woman greeted us with a big smile
and said "come in!" Then our friend started introducing us in English,
"these are the sisters from my church" the blond smiled and nodded and
finally piped in "Maria! We go to the same church!" She then proceeded
to tell us how she joined the church when she married her second
husband, but when they divorced she fell away for 20 years. Then just
three years ago she came back to church and since has gone through the
temple (and continues to go) thanks to dedicated home and visiting
teachers who visited her monthly for ten years. Well, at the time when
this woman was coming back to church, Our friend joined the church!
Maria opened up to her about some of her problems and holy cow her
neighbor is an angel sent from Heaven. She was able to give our friend
just the encouragement she needed and then proceeded to promise to
take her through the temple. She bore a powerful testimony of the
temple and boldly told our friend all the things she needed to do to
go. She then again promised to go with her and said that she would
even bring her visiting teacher. It was amazing. The Lord is so aware
of all the needs of his children. We had gone out looking for more
people to teach, but he used us to lead Maria to just what she needs.
We love being here so much. It just feels like such a tender mercy.
The people are so loving. (I haven't ever been fed so much on my
mission. You know you're an Hermana when death comes in three families
who decide to serve you sopa or caldo three times on the same hot
August day. Still trying to figure out the "this is the soup my mom
always made on the hottest days of the summer!" Culture....but I love
them for it!)
This week we've been taking out the bikes! We take the bikes to
different neighborhoods, just leave our car somewhere and have been
biking to members. It's been a lot of fun.
On Wednesday while biking we stopped at a home we had seen having A
carne Asada party weekends prior. A girl about our age answered the
door and we started talking with her, until she just stopped us and
said, "wait. Where are y'all from?" Um Texas and Idaho..."where did
y'all learn Spanish? Because your Spanish is perfect. And I mean
perfect." She was in shock, and quite frankly, so we're we! It was
amazing to see how the gift of tongues identified us as servants of
the Lord. She let us in and we met her cute little family and we are
teaching them again tonight!
On Friday we biked to a part member less active family, but they
weren't home. So we decided to try this other member, who was a single
woman the branch President's wife referred to us. We thought she was
less active, but when we arrived she told us about how distraught she
was that company had over stayed her time to leave in time to go to
the temple that night in Spanish. But we came! Haha somewhere in the
conversation it came up that her favorite hymn was "Lord I would
Follow thee" we asked her if we could sing it and she got really
excited. "Yes! And I want to get my mom and her caretaker!" Her care
taker turned out to be a friend visiting from Mexico and she loved the
hymn! ( her mom, who is 85, also sang with us btw.) we then talked
about our favorite lines from the hymn and shared a message based off
that conversation. We explained to her moms caretaker/ friend who we
were and what we do and asked her if we could teach her. She said yes!
So we went back the next morning- first thing! And she was so excited.
They (care taker and member- who are friends) had stayed up late into
the night singing hymns, and our new friend Josefina loved it! It was
such a spiritual lesson. We all cried and she told us that she new we
were angels of truth and committed to read the Book of Mormon.
I know that what we share is true. We aren't perfect, by any means,
but I know that the message we share is true and the most important
thing is that we keep on trying. God is our Loving Heavenly Father and
His grace is sufficient. Moroni 10:32. In all that we do, the most
important thing is that we continue to grow closer to Him and to be
more like Him. Mosiah 3:19.
God is so merciful.  This week we had zone meeting and we talked a lot
about faith. Well, with Faith comes Hope and faith + hope = charity
and that is the goal: Charity. Without it, we are nothing. So keep the
faith! Keep the hope! And remember that Love is the essence of the
gospel!
I love and miss you all!
Love always,
Hermana Wallis

Spanish sisters the day of transfers. (This is from 3 ish weeks ago...)
And caldo with a side of Coca-cola. (They bought the napkins just for us btw.)

Week 64- Cherokee, GA, Spanish Speaking

Wow. It has been wonderful to be here in Cherokee. On Monday night we
went to go visit this less active who is handicapped, but we drove up
to his house and it just didn't feel right. We felt very uneasy about
the whole thing. So we looked at our map to see what other less
actives we could visit nearby. We decided to go visit the Gonzalez
family. They weren't exactly close, but had been a referral from the
elders and our branch president so we decided to head up to there home.
The Hermana welcomed us with open arms and was so happy to receive us.
She just opened up and told us everything that had been going on for
the past few months and her concerns about her teenage daughters. It
was very tender to recognize the need for sisters here in this area.
This woman is so sweet. I just love her. Her yard is covered with all
different kinds of flowers and she has been through so much. She came
to church yesterday and fasted for the first time in her life! Her
first task for us was referring her sister to us. Since then she has
also referred her neighbor and another friend. Her testimony is
amazing. We just wish her missionaries could have been there to hear
her listen to her testify of God's love and mercy for us. We are
excited to continue to work with her and see what the Lord has in
store for her.
On Tuesday we ate dinner with "Mama Loca". She had us make our own
tortillas and told us about her missionaries. She expressed
disappointment as she told us about how they have gone less active and
one of them is divorced. Again, we wished her missionaries could have
listened to her testimony and hear how she had once had so many high
hopes for them.
We had district meeting on Wednesday. And we accidentally went to the
wrong district. :/ we were so proud of ourselves! We arrived right on
time and had settled in and started studying when the district leader
walked in. Our district was at the stake center 20 min away! So we
quickly grabbed all our stuff and raced over there. We literally
walked in just as everyone was standing to recite D&C 4 and for me to
share the missionary handbook thought I was assigned. Sometimes I
think the Lord just wanted a good laugh.
Our district! For the first time in my Spanish speaking mission I am
part of the only Spanish speaking companionship! We feel like we were
dropped out of Mexico City and into the campos with all the English
people. Haha it's definitely an adjustment. (My last district was 3
Spanish speaking companionships. We spoke in Spanish a lot because one
elder was from Oxaca and the other was from chile.)
On Thursday I surprised Donna from the Shiloh food pantry! It was so
much fun. We went early to volunteer and were just sitting there in
front of the pantry when she showed up. She was so excited. I love her
so much and am so grateful for the wonderful friends like her I've
made on my mission. It feels like I was a brand new missionary in this
area just yesterday, but the truth is that the time is flying!
I was able to play the piano for the primary yesterday- they have a
good sized primary! It was fun- there's a good missionary focus in
this branch. We feel really loved here. It's been a big tender mercy
for me. The Lord always blesses us in 10fold. And if we can't see the
blessings now- keep going! They will come!
I love this work and I love the Lord. I know that we are His children
and that He loves us.
Love always,

Hermana Wallis

This is at Hermana Gonzalez' house. She calls us her "medianaranjas".

If you would like to write to Madeleine please use madeleine.wallis@myldsmail.net

For more information on what she is teaching please see www.mormon.org

Week 63- Cherokee, GA with Sister Greenman

The Sisters Have Arrived.

This week was crazy. (When is it not?) but so fun. Sister Greenman and
I have had a lot of fun settling into our new apartment and getting to
know the members here.
We love Cherokee!
Our first task was to girlify our apartment. (It kind of feels like
we're pulling a prank or something because we are already such good
friends it's like we decided to go on this mini trip and take over
elders apartments, steal their investigators, and eat their member's
food.) anyways, after cleaning out old ties and aftershave, and
spraying perfume through that apartment, we were ready to work.
Basically we've just been meeting as many people as we could. It has
been very fun- they're so excited because we are the first sisters for
this branch, so they treat us like princesses. (Can't complain.)
It's been amazing because almost every time we've gone to meet a less
active, they've been home. And while we've had no idea what we're
doing, the Lord has lead us the whole way. The members already have
brought a family to church and asked us to give a church tour after
church and then asked us to come over to teach them yesterday night.
Oh and they also put together an FHE party for next week and all
committed each other to bring non-members or their less active
friends.
God is good.
I am so grateful to be a part of this work! I say it every week, but
it is such a privilege. Even the little things. For instance, I just
love the schedule. I love coming home at night, writing in my journal
and going to bed. I also love waking up in the morning, exercising
(well, somethings never change), and then having 2 whole hours to
study the gospel! It's wonderful.
I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that He lives. This is His
gospel and His work. This morning in my studies I started comparing
children of men (Helaman 12 vs Children of Christ (Mosiah 5) and it's
amazing what knowing about our divine identity can do for us. We are
all children of God! We can become more than "dust upon the earth"
because of Jesus Christ. Our potential is more glorious than we can
comprehend. (But we have to know our divine identity as children of
God (Romans 8:16-17) , before we can even begin to comprehend our
divine potential.)
I Love and miss you!
Love always,
Hermana Wallis

If you would like to write to Madeleine please use: madeleine.wallis@myldsmail.net

For information on what Madeleine is teaching please go to mormon.org

Week 62- Last week in Roswell, GA with Hermana Ray. Spanish speaking

Welp. This week I am being transferred to Cherokee with Sister
Greenman! (We're opening it, she was my companion back in February). I'm super excited because it's the samestake as Big Shanty, my baby(first) area. Big change but it will be good. I'mreally going to miss Sister Ray though. And I've had a lot of funhere.Also, this is my first time to leave this zone since last August. AndSister Greenman has never left this zone, and the area will be muchbigger. It will be an adventure!
Unfortunately the baptism did not happen. Se la vi. We do what we canbut ultimately everyone has their own power to chose. The mostimportant thing we can do is just keep on loving the people.
Samantha, our French investigator, is still doing well. She came tochurch yesterday! I'm sad to leave her. She's so sweet and we have alot of fun.
Yesterday as we were saying goodbye to everyone at church, this guyrandomly walked in. He wanted to go to church, so someone gave him theaddress to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints and so hewalked to the church building! It was pretty amazing. We gave him aquick tour of the church and he was really excited about it. The Lordis always preparing His children.
I feel so privileged to be a part of this work. I am grateful for theopportunity to work with and meet so many people. I know that JesusChrist is our Savior and that He Lives.
I love and miss you all!Love always,Hermana Wallis


The map is of my new area.  So it covered the same area! Big shanty is English YSA and covers thewhole stake. Then Cherokee is the Spanish branch which also covers the
whole stake. (The meeting locations are different though.)
There will be a set of elders there as well. They will cover the north
part and we cover mainly the south part. I'll send you a picture of
the map. It's the entire Marrietta Zone.

Week 61, Roswell, GA-Spanish Speaking

Time is going by so fast. We had apartment inspections today, so sorry
this is short.
We are still working with Samantha, our French investigator. It's a
lot of fun- the spirit is so strong in those lessons. We also love to
bring her recent convert friend, Anglaise, who ironically doesn't
speak any inglés. Haha but it's just so fun because she is just so
happy to go out with us, and we are just so happy she comes! (She
speaks French and creole and understands a little bit of Spanish) and
Sister Ray figured out that we have google translate. It has
drastically improved our communication skills this week.
We unfortunately did not have the baptism this week, Lesly will be
baptized next Wednesday. On her 12th birthday. Because she wants to be
"born again" on her actual date of birth. Haha I love her, and I just
love this work.
Once upon a time, someone told me that 50 years ago they didn't have
any of the key indicators or goals or anything to keep track to make
sure missionaries are working, they just went out and loved the
people. It's amazing what happens when we just love the people. I feel
like it gives God room to work His miracles, and the spirit is so much
stronger.
I know that this is His work and that He loves His children and is
aware of each of them. I say it all the time, but it really is a
privilege to be here. I'm so grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ. I
know that He lives.
Love and miss you!
Hermana Wallis
Sent from my iPad

Week 60, Roswell, GA- Spanish Speaking

 Exchange with Sister Blaire

 Investigator's apartment

 We had all the sisters over for studying and breakfast.

This week was super busy and crazy (like always). But it feels so
weird because technically it was shorted because we had preparation
day on Tuesday... Idk.

But we started with Exchanges! I went to the Milton ward with Sister
Blaire. She's super cute. It was fun because that ward covers the
northern part of the stake which starts to get really country. (Like 2
lane roads for days). We also did service at a nursing home. When we
were walking in I was remembering playing the piano at Sunrise, and I
had the thought that I should offer to play the piano for them. It was
fun because when we got there, they had forgotten we were coming so
they were starting to tell us they weren't going to need us but maybe
we could do some puzzles with the people or something. And so I just
asked if they had a piano and they got super excited! It was fun
because I was just able to pull up the hymns on my iPad and then play for the residents.
On Wednesday we got to go eat dinner with a less active. (I sent a
picture of the outside of her apartment.) That was literally insane. I
love the people here. :) they keep everything very interesting. Her
apartment was honestly beautiful on the inside. She had tile floor and
marble countertops with white and blue ceramics for the back splash.
She just also had SO MUCH STUFF. Lol this woman has a history among
the missionaries. She loves the missionaries and she was so sweet and
so excited to have us over. It was definitely interesting, but a lot
of fun.

Then I also got to exchange with Sister Allen. We are still teaching
our Haitian friend! I had taught her before on exchanges when we had
French sisters, and we used a team up. So I wanted to try the same
team up. The only thing about the team up is that she really doesn't
speak any English. She understands some Spanish though, but my
companion only speaks ASL and English and then we had our investigator
who speaks some English, French and creole. I will just say I'm so
grateful for the iPad and for the wonderful language apps. It was very
simple teaching but the spirit was so strong! It was just so much fun
and the team up was so happy to be with us (and I was just so happy
she was willing to come with us!) even though we all had no idea what
was going on!
This really is the Lord's work. Lesly (Irma's super shy daughter) has
been speaking complete sentences to us. So we are overjoyed. She might
be getting baptized this Saturday. So prayers would be nice. :)
I love this work and I love the message that we share. If you ever see
missionaries with the black name tags, or if they knock on your door,
do me a favor and let them in and ask them to share a message with
you. I promise that the message will come from the Lord and will touch
your heart.
I know that God lives and that He is our Father who loves us so much.
Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world and His gospel is here! In its
fullness! Just for us! It is through His gospel that we can
have peace and happiness. The world will always be chaotic, but
because of Him, we can have peace no matter what our circumstances. I
know that because of Him, all the wrongs in the world will be made
right for those that love Him and follow Him.
I love and miss you!
Love,
Hermana Wallis

P.S. Also we had 11 investigators come to church. It was a little insane
because we were partially in the English ward and then also in
Cumorah. (Hey! Like the Cumorah pageant! Funniest thing-
most of the members don't actually know what Cumorah is...). We did
splits, Sis Ray stayed in English and I went into Spanish. Where I
took care of all the music. So to say... Lol- I was the
chorister. Which was fun because church is in the stake center so they
have a chorister podium in the middle of the stage behind the pulpet.
Then I sat right behind that in the choir seats. So I could just watch
everyone for sacrament meeting. My favorite were the kids that would
recognize me and wave to Me. Made my life.
Just thought you would like that.
I LOVE YOU.
And! Thank you so much for the dress! It's so nice! I'm wearing it
tomorrow for zone conference. THANK YOU!!!

Week 59, Roswell, GA- Spanish Speaking

 Hermana Ray and I riding our bikes in Hotlanta

Typical back yard

 Investigator and I have the same shoes

The Countryside

Happy Fourth of July!!!
This week was crazy. As always. But a lot happened. Like, A LOT.
We started biking this week. We bike for the first half of the day and
then take our car out in the evening. It's been nice. I actually
really like biking a lot. It has just been HOT. Thankfully it's
finally raining today. We need it.

Yesterday was kind of weird. Holidays are always weird because they
don't change much for the people we work with, but it changes
everything for everyone around us. (It was nice though because Walmart
was practically empty this morning...haha)  We visited a French former
investigator and her brother was there. Turns out, he's a member. So
it was great, because he was able to translate! He even invited her to
be baptized and she said yes! So we now also work in French. She's
about 16 years old and has some friends that are members. They don't
know English. But they know creole and one speaks a little bit of
Spanish.  (Gift of tongues!) (oh and they're probably from Haiti if
you're wondering how we find people that speak French...)

We also work with Irma's daughter Lesly. She's turning 12 this month
and actually went to girls camp. She loves church. She loves The Book
of Mormon and meeting with us. (Actually she didn't come to church on
Sunday because she spent all day Saturday reading the Book of Mormon
instead of doing her chores so she had to do them on Sunday..lol) the
hard thing with her is that she is painfully shy. She won't speak,
really at all. (We do a lot of reading facial expressions and pray a
lot for the gift of discernment)  She does want to be baptized though!

Irma is doing well.... This week we came to her house and she had the
small burner in stove hole for the Big burner. (My biggest regret was
not taking a picture. I feel like I'm walking into the National
Geographic every time I enter her home...) So a pot was really just
sitting inside the stove hole. (Electric stove, thankfully...?)
yea.... Half way through the lesson it started getting really smokey
and Lesly got up to check on the food. She just looked at us and said,
"mommy... Do you want to come see what's happening?" There were orange
lights reflecting on her face. Sister Ray and I just very calmly
looked at each other. "The stove's on fire." "Yep" "We knew this was
going to happen." "Yep" Sure enough the stove was on fire. We put it
out within a few minutes so no damage was done. We then tried to very
clearly tell her to never use the stove like that again.
We might just install a fire alarm for them....

Yesterday when we went over it was completely hectic. The 2 babies
(ages 4 and 2) were screaming and running everywhere... and then
Irma's oldest danger was shaving her nails with a large butchers knife
and accidentally cut her finger, Irma was mad at Lesly because, well
Lesly is The youngest... Idk. We tried to show them a video and then
Irma started singing Alabanzas, but there was this little 2 year old
boy watching the video with the biggest grin ever. It was so cute. He
was the only one paying attention and I didn't even care because
everything was so crazy and he was so cute and happy to watch a video
about Jesus. I just sat there and kind of chuckled, because sometimes
this is what life is like. Crazy. We just have to learn to tune out
the crazy and focus on the good.
"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love
God to them who are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28

Yesterday during studies I was inspired:
 We love our Lord, We love our Brother, and so of course, We love each
other. 1 John 4: 15-21

(Comes from the Madeline prayer before they would eat their
croissants: we love our bread, we love our butter, but most of all we
love each other... Those were some good studies for me.)

But anyways! It's so true. Love is the essence of the gospel and there
is not her better I could be doing now than sharing that. The reason
why we do anything in the church is because we Love the Lord and we
love our neighbor. I know that God is our loving Heavenly Father and
that His love for us is infinite. He is well aware of each of us and
our needs. I know that He lives and hat this is His work.

I love and miss you!
Love,

Hermana Wallis