No Words

A great week yet again! But we are glad it's Pday. Here's a quick recap. Kristina got her mission call to Boise, Idaho and leaves at the end of November. We found out Bettie will probably never come to church. Sister Outland and Sister Pope came to church! And Brittney, Susan's daughter was at church! We met a man who builds chairs out of sticks. Our toilet exploded. I got poison ivy. We had Zone Conference. .. Yep. I think that's pretty much it.

 

Sunday was incredible! Sacrament meeting was all about the Priesthood, and eternal families. Relief Society was all about the light of Christ from President Uchdorfs talk last General Conference. Speaking of, I'm getting so excited for General Conference in October! After church we met a man from a trailor park that builds chairs out of sticks. They are incredible! He imediately saw our tags (shocker) and started talking about God and Christ, and then said he sings gospel music. Next time we see him I'll get a picture of him. He's a little nutty, but great.

 

 

Monday our water was out, and we had to go to Elder and Sister Madsens to borrow water. Then at 2 a.m. our toilet exploded with water all over, leaving us a lake in the bathroom. ... Now our water is working just great ;)

We helped Kaylene more with her backyard. Sister Brannon let us borrow their lawn mower, and Rachel brought a weed wacker and helped us. We wish we got a before and after picture. But as I weed wacked mounds of weeds, poison ivy sliced my legs. So my legs are TORN UP (for those that know Tracy) Ha! But luckily I'm not alergic, so it's not as bad as some other people break out.

 

 

We had a great lesson with Roxanne. She didn't come to church, but we just know that she knows this is Christ's church! We just have to find out what her "hold up" really is.

 

We have been fed A LOT lately by members and others we have met. Sister Williams said her family has been praying that we get fed, and now that we are we need to tell her family to stop praying! Ha I could have died yesterday from eating so much. We had dinner at the Bakers and I found out that Brother Baker served his mission in California, and one of his areas was in Lincoln!! Maybe gma and gpa remember him? He served in the Spanish Branch.

 

 

Zone Conference was fabulous! President Hanks is just the greatest! Sorry if this be too short.

 

 

Peace and Blessing,

 

Sister Reyne

Can It Get Any Better Than This?

This week was amazing! Where to even start? This transfer has flown by WAY too fast! We pray we can stay here one more transfer! There's too much left to do! On Monday we had our usual P-Day, cleaning, laundry, study, LIBRARY, groceries, shopping, dinner, and then we went to Family Home Evening with the YSA. Rachel taught a great lesson about Miracles. I have such a strong testimony that miracles do happen today! I haven't told many people this, but I want y'all to know (whoever see's this) that I KNOW miracles happen today, because I've seen it countless times in my life! I know the power of prayer is real. It's incredible that we each can talk with God. Before my mission knowing that dads cancer came back in January, I needed to know if he was going to be ok while I was gone. I told the Lord, I will handle whatever answer I get, I just need to know. I felt very strongly that he wasn't going to be ok. Even though I was sad, I felt at peace. About a month ago when I found out dad was in the hospital because his kidneys were failing, I wasn't scared. I felt total peace, because how could I be upset, or worried when the Lord already prepared me. I find that to be a huge blessing! The Lord prepared me, because he knew this would happen. I know I couldn't have handled it the same way I did, not knowing. It's incredible being on the mission and learning to really have that complete trust in the Lord, regardless of what may happen. I know we have trials to help us grow and come closer to the Lord. I love getting emails from mom telling me how well dad is doing now!

We saw Susan and Greg yesterday! Oh my goodness! I LOVE them SO much! I love them as if they are family. We taught the Restoration. Greg who is not Mormon said that it all makes sense! Those are some of the best words to hear! He said it's answered some questions he's had. Last week Susan received a priesthood blessing and so we talked about that, and the power of the priesthood. Susan talked about how she has felt so much peace regardless of what she is going through. She is one of the most Christlike women I've ever met. She says she'd rather go through this than anyone else. Greg asked why good people have to go through things like this. The spirit and the love we had for them at the moment was so strong! We are given trials to make us better. God knows what we can handle, and he knows at different times in our life what we can handle. She has come closer to the Lord, I can feel it, I can see it. I'll never forget what Rebekah said once, "You never know how strong you are, until that's all you have left". 

And Sister Outland, she reminds me of grandma Reyne. We love her so much! She and her (OUR) friends came to the Relief Society Activity on Thursday. We played Jeopardy, and The Price is Right. Dori won a cabin trip to take Sister Outland and Phoebi. I won peanut butter, a cake, and a CAR! ... Well it was a toy truck. Sister Williams played Jeopardy and was a boss at it! She knows her stuff! Afterwards Sister Outland was talking to Phoebi that if she ever wanted help with family history, Sister Gee helps with that. AHH! I could have just ran through a field of flowers! .. Once a week we go over to Phoebi's. We have some of our service hours with them and we are knitting earring holders! Phoebi made us a cake, and we always have our cream soda when we go over.

Sister Hutchison just got released as the Relief Society President, and will not be in the YSA Branch with her husband as Branch President. Sister Martin is now the Relief Society President. Her daughter Rachel comes out with us to lesson every week. We also go to visit Sister Hutchison's mother-in-law (Sister Hutchison Sr I guess you'd call it ;) and I hope to grow up to be just like her one day. The spirit she has about her is contageous. She has served a few missions, and I just love being in her home. It's like Sister Halls house. It's almost like being in the temple it's so peaceful. When we went to see her Wednesday she was playing games with some other women, and Bryanna who volunteers was in charge of the game. We got to talk with her a little, and she said one of her good friends is Mormon. I just love how unplanned opportunities happen like that. We are going to be seeing her, and inviting her to the activities. We invited her to volleyball Friday with the YSA, but she didn't come. We did go and play though and it was so much fun!

Ohhhh I can't forget Friday! We went to see Doug (Sister Rainey's neighbor). He opened the door and we sat on the porch. He went to smoke and said, "Do y'all smoke"? HA ... um... No! He's like, I feel nervous to smoke in front of y'all. He said he could feel the spirit from us being there. He could feel the spirit and love we had with us radiate from us. That's one of the best compliments! We briefly taught the Restoration, and gave him a Book of Mormon. He said he'd read it. He wouldn't schedule an appointment for us to come back, but he did say he and his wife would make us dinner sometime, and we were welcome to stop by. It's crazy how many "strangers" will offer us dinner. Like Saturday, we were tracting, and to make it fun we picked a topic for each other that we had to implement in whatever principle we taught, or just bring it up in conversation. I gave Sister Williams tennie shoes. We get to this ladies house, and she's very sweet, when we asked to leave a blessing on her home she said that the light of Christ already resides there (not interested) but that we are always welcome to come over for dinner! .. WHAT?! We gave her a mormon.org card invited her to go onto the website, and gave her our numbers and names. Sister Williams then said,"And if you ever need help in the yard, we wear regular clothes too, and our tennie shoes and we love to give service." ... 10 minutes later she calls us if we'd like to come to dinner the next day and discuss religion. Ok can I just say, she would be amazing in Relief Society! Can't wait to see what happens! ... But of course the next house we go to Sister Williams gives me the topic of floss. ... I really just don't remember at all what I even said. ;) I was trying so hard not to laugh. The man had brought up how he lived in this house for over 40 years and how the neighborhood was slowly not being taken care of, so I said, "It's just like yourself. I mean, I have to brush and floss my teeth everyday to stay clean. It's the same with your neighborhood, everyone needs to be taking care of their homes to keep the neighborhood looking nice."

Sunday evening we went to the David's for dinner. I just love that family to death! But gosh, they started a food fight and then when we started to share a message the kids started jumping on the couches, and swinging on the fan, and eating bananas, and then started acting like monkeys ... Well now that I wrote a novel ... and now that I know y'all are reading this ... you know who you are ;) I best be careful! PS The David's are great, and I lied about the kids. They are all great! I love y'all!

Peace and Blessin,

Sister Reyne

Whata Week!‏

Whata Week! This week FLEW by! I'm still loving being a trainer! Sister Williams is fabulous and HILARIOUS! We made a goal as a Zone to have 11 baptisms this month! We are going to be 2 of those! That's our goal!  Last Preparation day was one of the worst however, because I wasted the Lords time. I will probably feel guilty about it the rest of my dang life. I was selfish, and I didn't talk to ONE person as we were out and about grocery shopping, etc. DON'T TAKE MY EXAMPLE ON THAT! Even if you aren't a full-time missionary, don't waste time. Talk with people. Bring up the gospel in conversation. It's not that weird! But I also say that because I'm a missionary. .. And it's the south! Ha! It's definately easier to be a missionary when you are A Missionary. So Monday started the week off pretty crummy, but we worked hard the rest of the week and the Lord placed people in our path many times. We were so blessed to find two people that we feel really good about! We went to see Sister Rainey (she's my girl!) who hasn't been to church in a long time. When we showed up her friend Daniel was about to leave after fixing her car. We talked with him, shared a short message that Christ's Gospel has been restored to the Earth, and we are going back this week to teach him and his 12 year old son! So exciting! I am so lucky to be in the South. People sometimes start talking about Jesus before we do!

 

 

Tuesday we went to the last Institute class of the Summer, and Elder Madsen and Sister Madsen did a "scripture bowl" and had pizza and cookies for everyone! It was way fun! And I finally got to see Tess :) .. you are probably reading this too .. maybe .. I hope. This week we have been seeing Sister Outland and Sister Pope who haven't been to church in a while, and Sister Pope came to church last week!! And Sister Outland came to church this week!! Pure joy! We love them ladies SO much! It's crazy the more people you meet, the more you realize how you knew a life without knowing them. And Bettie. Oh Bettie! She's in her 70's. She said she's been baptized, but other missionaries who taught her late last year noted she doesn't have a membership number, and the records don't show she was baptized. ? "She a little cray." As Sister Williams said. But we love her and are working toward getting her to quit smoking.

 

 

Yesterday, Sunday. Sunday's are a struggle. You are so used to coming home from church, eating, taking naps, eating some more, reading scriptures, playing games. Well only a few of those things do we do on the mission. And by Sunday evening, you are ready for preparation day! You are so ready to clean your clothes, fill the fridge a little, and hear from family and friends! But yesterday we were tracting and ran into a man who was washing his car. Crazy people! It was DANG hot yesterday! But I guess we also must be crazy for walking outside. ... Side note, we also drove about 90 miles yesterday and we have limited miles to use on the car each month, so we will be biking A LOT this month. August. THE HOTEST MONTH OF THE YEAR! Idiots! We are dang smart ... But anyway, we taught Dewayne the message of the Restoration, and gave him a Book of Mormon. He said, "Why doesn't my church teach about the golden plates". And he said how he didn't know there was another book of scripture. We are WAY excited! We are going back this week to teach him. Afterwards Sister Williams and I said how we can already see him as a Young Mens leader!

 

 

Oh ... and we are buying rain jackets today. We pretty much swam in the rain! I can't remember if that was this week or last, but right as we left Sister Outlands it started pouring rain, and thankfully we were on our way back to the apartment for lunch .. We might as well have just jumped in a pool 3 times in a row. It was so fun!

 

 

We got a call from Susan on Tuesday and she said her cancer is back. She has been in remission since April. She is such a wonderful woman of such faith and strength! And her husband Greg doesn't seem to have much religious background, but he seems very open to the pamphlets we have given him so far. We love them so much and want to see them go to the Temple!!

 

 

There's always more to write, but never enough time. Thank you to all who have written me! It means more than you know! It surprises me when y'all are telling me you read my blog! So thank you Evan and mom!

 

 

I will try and be better about taking more pictures!

 

Sister Williams lookin' fresh!

 

Kaylene's push lawn mower! We all had to take a picture with this antique.

Alabama is Where It's At!‏

I'm loving being a trainer still! Sister Williams is hilarious! We laugh every day. Two times this week we could not stop laughing as we prayed. It was a struggle. We're getting better at teaching in unity, and Sister Williams is far further along than I was when I first came to Alabama. I love the Northport Ward! We met with Bishop Skagen and his wife and they are going to come with us to our next lesson with Susan and Greg. They are getting to the temple next year after Greg is baptized! It's going to happen! We will fast forever if that's what it takes! Well .. we actually aren't allowed to do that, so maybe just 24 hours at a time.

 

 

We met with Jennifer on Tuesday. She's met with the missionaries before. She's very religious, and wants her children to lead good lives. She reminds me a lot of Heather from Tuscaloosa. We shared with her a little about the For The Strength of Youth, and will be back to see her Wednesday. .. I am so blessed to be in the South. 99% of the population is religious, and it isn't weird to talk about church, or God, or Jesus Christ.

 

 

Friday evening we went to an activity with the YSA and played dodge ball. I was actually scared for my life. .. Other than that, it was fun! And earlier we had Zone Training then we went to McDonalds and I had my first McWrap. It had been a few days since I had fried chicken. No, not really, I have actually been eating pretty normal foods. ..  Kristina (our ward missionary and friend) took us out last night to see a member at the hospital, and she asked us if we had seen the street named "fried chicken". We believed her. And no, there isn't such street. But we did see a big group of people outside a church being baptized in a giant blow up pool. "Up next ..." Everyone is being saved in Alabama. It's a funny story, but it really is sad because these people just don't understand what more they could have.

 

 

This week has been one of the hardest, just because a lot of people like to do the talking, and they don't let you get a word in sometimes. We read and watch videos about listening to those you are teaching, but sometimes it's a long period of listening before you share something. But I love the people out here!!

 

 

Peace and Blessings!

 

Love Sister Reyne