To the End of the World and Back

Happy Monday everyone!

We started off this week with a very adventurous Tuesday. We went to the ReStore in the morning, and when an appointment cancelled, we managed to get to bingo as well. Then we made a quick visit to a recent convert and then went ALL the way up to Casar to visit a Bible referral. Casar is a rural town in the far north of our area, and as far as we can tell, the Sister Missionaries haven't been there since 2014 because it's out of the way and the members tell us it's a little sketchy up there. But the drive was absolutely gorgeous, which almost made up for the fact that we found out that it was the referral's mailing address, not her actual address. She really lived down in Shelby. Of course, we had to drive about five miles down the road to get this information, because we had no cell reception. Luckily we had enough time to visit her, deliver the Bible, and introduce the Book of Mormon as well. So it all ended up okay. 

Wednesday we had district meeting, which is always fun, and then drove up to Kings Mountain with Sister H. and her daughter to visit a less-active member there. We had a good time and ate a picnic lunch at the park. That evening we had dinner at a Chinese buffet (there are a surprising number of those in the area) with the L family. Their kids are hilarious. 

After weekly planning on Thursday, we had to take our car out to Gastonia to get it a state inspection. It didn't take too long, which was great, because the soap opera playing in the waiting area was almost physically painful to listen to (we tried our best to ignore it). On our way back we visited our investigator H and got a surprise: she had finally been able to read some of the Book of Mormon on her own! And, of course, she liked it! While we were leaving, we got her a new Bible because the one we had given her before got severely water damage. When we opened the trunk to get it she saw all our pamphlets and got super excited, so we gave her some. Hopefully she will enjoy them. 

On Friday we visited with a returning less-active and then went to go see an inactive member referred to us by someone in the ward. She was super friendly and loved to chat with us. We got to sit out on the porch with her, which was nice, since it was a beautiful day. We went out to dinner at a seafood place with the ward mission leader and his wife, and he had us try fried okra. It was pretty good. Saturday we visited a couple of recent converts and less-actives. We also tried to visit an inactive member in Kings Mountain. He wasn't home, but his house was absolutely gorgeous. I would have taken a picture but that might have been an invasion of privacy. 

Sunday was great, as always. Two recent converts, M and M, were finally able to come after enduring some health problems. In the evening we had dinner at Sister A's house, as usual, and this time she invited the H family to eat with us. It was super fun to be all together, and Brother and Sister H got to tell the story of how they met and got married. They talked about how amazing it was to be sealed in the temple, which was espeically great because Sister A and her husband are working toward that. It was a wonderful evening. 

Today is shaping up to be another very wet day, and I love it! I'm looking forward to a great week! 

Love, 

Sister Reay 

Picture: This is in Casar. No joke. 

Sister Reay Goes On An Adventure

Hello everyone and happy late Easter! 

It's been a great week, even though it was also a bike week. I spent the first part of it being a lobster because our zone activity at the park was a little sunnier than I anticipated and I forgot to put sunscreen on. This was pretty amusing to our bingo ladies on Tuesday. One of them said with surprise, "I didn't know the sun was that bright." Now my arms are a little bit tan-ish and my face is almost done peeling, so all is well. 

On Wednesday we went to zone meeting, which was great. Afterwards, we did exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders again. It was a little different than last time. For one thing, Sister Hill was the one to stay in Shelby, and I went with Sister Nunies to Mooresville. For another thing, the sister training leaders had just formed and emergency tri-panionship, so Sister Peterson was with us as well, and we were responsible for Mooresville and Cornelius. For another thing, neither Sister Nunies nor Sister Peterson have driving permission right now, so I had to drive. To keep my driving experiences brief: no one died. 

Exchanges were really fun. We got to visit quite a few people, now that there are two areas to cover instead of one. We ate dinner at a member's home in Mooresville, and I managed to become friends with their five little dogs, so that by the end of the message I had one dog on my left, one dog on my right, and two dogs going on and off my lap occasionally. And by little dogs, I mean the biggest dog was a pomeranian. We visited some more people after dinner and had a lot of trouble introducing ourselves because they had to explain the new trio and exchanges at the same time. 

On Thursday we exchanged back after a long, long drive. Sister H. took us out to visit a new Bible referral, T. She is great and super friendly. She wanted the Bible to give to her pastor to give to some youth in the congregation who don't have any... a Bible that has "A Gift from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" written on the inside. We'll see how that goes over. Anyway, when we introduced the Book of Mormon, she perked up and said, "Is it good?!? Have you read it???" We were happy to inform her that yes, it was, and yes, we had! We hopefully will be able to meet with her again this week. 

We did our weekly planning on Friday because of exchanges and then biked out to volunteer at ReStore. It is definitely getting warmer out here, and humidity definitely makes a difference, especially when it comes to "helmet hair." 

On Saturday we helped a member take down a yard sale and then went out looking for formers in the area. While we were looking for a man we had talked to only once, his mother was there babysitting, and she invited us right in to see the Prince of Peace video and loved it. We were also able to introduce the Book of Mormon and give her that and a Restoration pamphlet. Her eyesight isn't great, so she will need someone else to read it to her. Hopefully we can teach them, too. :)

Sunday was Easter, so of course it was wonderful! The bishop invited all the missionaries, including the Everys, our senior couple, over to his house for lunch. "Lunch" turned out to be "dinner in the afternoon," and it was delicious. It was pure Southern cooking: barbecue, hush puppies, baked beans, and apple pie. The bishop's wife was absolutely hilarious. She responded to Elder Every's request for a small piece of pie with a very-slightly-smaller-than-normal-sized piece and a "Honey, that's the smallest piece a Southern girl can cut." Their grandkids were there was well and they were very adorable. 

We have a great weeked planned ahead of us. Keep praying for missionary opportunites out there! 

Love, 

Sister Reay 

Pictures: A neat lizard and a neat plant 

Getting there is definitely not half the fun

Happy Monday everyone!

We went pretty much all over our area this week, so we stacked up a lot of miles. We started out on Tuesday by going out to Kings Mountain and visiting some less-actives out there. Wednesday we went to Gastonia to give the car a checkup, but once we got there we found out the technician who could help us had quit. So we drove ALL the way back, but we did get to visit a few people on the way. It was pretty much raining buckets all day, too, so the driving was a little slower than normal.

We missionaried around and had a pretty normal Thursday. On Friday we drove out to Kings Mountain again to visit H, our investigator. She has a lot going on in her life, so we took some time to read the Book of Mormon with her. She read even farther than we had planned and seemed really interested in it, which was great! We also finally were able to deliver a Bible

to a referral we got weeks ago. She was very nice. We also got a new Bible referral that lives in Casar, pretty much the absolute farthest part of our area. We won't be able to visit until next week, when we have the car. 

On Friday we were able to go up to Cherryville, which we don't get to do a lot, because it's also pretty far. We visited a lot of less-actives, most of whom told us to come again later at a better time. The reason we went up was to visit a Bible referral, E. She has been really struggling with some things in her life, so we brough Brother L with us, who has been a bishop before. He was able to help her out a lot and we are going to continue meeting with her. Please pray that she will continue to find comfort! 

Sunday was fast Sunday, which means... testimonies! One of the highlights was a returned missionary in the ward. She served in Brazil, so it was pretty interesting to hear a Portugese/Southern accent combination. There was also a little boy that went up, and despite suggestions from his older brother, didn't seem to know what to say. Finally he said, "I know Jesus loves everyone... so we don't have to fight them. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen." Knowing this boy I'm sure that was something his parents had to remind him of often, but I think it's something we can all apply. We also got to visit a man we had talked to before who had very strong faith in Christ. When we brought up Joseph Smith and the Restoration, he seemed hesitant, but he promised to read the Book of Mormon. So there is hope! 

Next week is bike week, and prayers will be appreciated for good weather and good health. Also, a pre-emptive happy Easter to y'all! 

Love, Sister Reay

Pictures: Getting snowcones after zone activity and Enjoying a rare treat, the finest of NC's fast foods

Generally Amazing

Hello y'all! 

We started out this week with a long drive to Gastonia. Several weeks ago (before I even got here) someone backed into our car while it was parked, and it dented up the front fender quite a bit. It didn't stop us from driving or anything, but it did scrape on the ground when we went over bumps, so we were glad to finally get authorization to get an estimate. We should be able to go up again in a couple of weeks to actually get it fixed. We will be very glad for that. 

Speaking of long drives, we also went up to Cherryville (for those of you not from 'round these parts, that's pronounced CHUR-vull) to visit the S family for dinner. Since we don't get to go up there that often, we also visited a member who lives up there. We got to talk to her daughter-in-law, too, who is not a member. They were both super friendly, though not quite as friendly as their giant labradoodle. :)

Thursday we got another Bible referral. Our best friend, Sister H., came with us to deliver it because she gave us a ride to a recent convert's house for service just before. The referral's name is N. We gave him the Bible, and when we brought out the Book of Mormon, he said, "Oh, yeah, that was the one I wanted!" We were pretty surprised about that. We were able to explain some of our message to him, and Sister H bore some powerful testimony. We scheduled a return appointment for next Sunday, and hopefully his wife will be able to listen as well! 

Friday was fun because we got to set up a booth to tell people about #PrinceofPeace, the church's Easter initiative this year! As soon as you get the time, go check it out. Seriously. It's on mormon.org and it's amazing. Besides the main video they also have eight "principles of peace" that can help us gain peace in our lives, which is something I think a lot of people need right now! 

But the most exciting part of the week was General Conference! Here in North Carolina it doesn't start until noon, which felt weird, but it was still phenomenal. On Saturday there were only a few people at the chruch to watch it, but Sunday there were plenty, and they had another pot luck lunch in between sessions (if they keep this up I will have gained twenty pounds by the time I leave Shelby). I don't know if it just comes from being a missionary, but I got so much out of this conference. It was amazing to me how many people talked about the Plan of Salvation, which is one of the main things we tell people about. There were also so many talks that applied to the Prince of Peace! One thing that I came away with was that if we want the influence of the Holy Ghost more in our lives, we need to heed its promptings the first time. Then, Heavenly Father will trust us enough to give us more. Also- coming straight from the prophet- we need to read the Book of Mormon every day. I know that doing so has blessed my life so much! 

Whew. So much spiritual enlightenment this week. This next week will be great, I know it! 

Love y'all! 

Sister Reay 

Pictures: 

One of the sisters in our ward crochets and collects baby hats for the hospital to donate every month. Hence, a new p-day project. 

"Light rain" said the weather app. 

And some flower pictures! The first one is dogwood (I'll try to get some pink dogwood sometime). Then there's ornamental cherry blossoms and redbud.