I Think the Car is Fancier Than I Am

Good morning y'all! 

This week a lot of appointments fell through, which meant we had a lot of time to do service and find new investigators. We were able to see some success in getting a few new and potential investigators who invited us back! One nice thing about being in the "Bible Belt" is that even if folk don't agree with us or want to hear more, they are usually really nice because if we love Jesus Christ, we are all right in their book. 

On Wednesday we had interviews with President and Sister Alexander up in Gastonia. Those are always great. Afterwards we had district meeting, and I gave a training on how to Teach People, Not Lessons. It went really well. That ate up our morning and some of our afternoon as well, but we had time to get a little snack, do companionship study in the car, and get to the B family for dinner. The weather was a little crazy that evening and there were even tornadoes in some parts of the mission, but not too close to us. Whew. 

On Thursday we spent the morning driving aaaallll the way up to the misson office in Charlotte to turn in Gimpy (our car) and pick up a new one, since it was about Gimpy's turn to retire. We ended up getting a brand-new car, which is amazing. We are so thankful for it! It's nice to drive without being afaid the bumper will fall off and with two perfectly functioning headlights. Sister Christiansen also got to go to Fatz for the first time with the L family. We had a super fun lesson with them and their kids about prayer using a shoelace. Its hard to explain, but it's a fun lesson to teach!

One thing I learned this week is to look for opportunities to teach all the time. When we were searching for former investigators, we hardly ever got in contact with the person we were actually looking for, but we found others in the area that were willing to talk!

We are so blessed. Thank you for your prayers! 

Love, 

Sister Reay

Driving on a beautiful day

Our district: Elders Every, Hulet, Rees, Copitzky, and Vargas, and Sisters Every, Me, and Christiansen 

How to get a new investigator without even trying

Hey y'all!

This was a very exciting week for us. Tuesday morning stared out a little slow but picked up fast. We had lunch with Brother T and his wife, read some of the Book of Mormon with our recent converts M and M, and volunteered at Sandys. Then we drove way out to visit a Bible referral, M, who we had been trying to set an appointment with for a looong time. It was a great lesson! We got to meet her and her daughter D. M has such strong faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. When we introduced the Book of Mormon, we found out that D had actually met briefly with the elders a while ago, back when they lived in Kings Mountain. That was a pretty neat coincidence. 

We also got a list this week of all the part-member families and unbaptized children in the ward who might like us to visit them. We hadn't even started on it yet when we got a call from a less-active member saying that his daughter J, who was on the list, wanted to be baptized! We of course were more than happy to come teach her! She pretty much knew all of the first lesson anyway, but it was good to get to know her. She has a little bit of a tricky family situation so she will need a lot of prayers as we progress. But we are holding out with hope. 

Friday we got to help the B family pack as they prepare to move to Charlotte. It's sad that they're going, but it was good to help out. Also it was fun hanging out with their four-year-old daughter while we packed. She's a hoot. We were also able to visit the Ms before we drove back to have dinner with the H family. Granny was able to be there as well and it was a great time. 

On Saturday we were planning on seeing M and D again, but we weren't able to get a hold of them. We went to Kings Mountain anyway and visited B and J. Sunday, as always, was a great day. It's always so wonderful to see from all the members and learn from each other. A highlight was someone quoting their daughter's description of prayer: "We're reverent with our arms and our eyes and we talk to Heavenly Father!" It's so sweet that even little children know that when we pray, Heavenly Father listens!

Keep those prayers coming and keep looking for missionary opportunities. 

Love, 

Sister Reay 

New Friends and Fresh Strawberries....

Hello y'all! 

The week started up with a loooong drive to Charlotte for transfers. It was sad to see Sister Hill go, but I know she will be doing great things in Lincolnton. And it was great to meet Sister Christiansen! She is fantastic. We also picked up our new car from another companionship. We will still be driving our old car ("Gimpy") and the elders got this new one, but... someone backed into it two days before transfers. So now it has a huge dent in it as well. I guess the Shelby cars just had to match. At least we both have cars, though. We got back from transfers that afternoon, settled in a little, and got to have dinner with the Ts, visit the Hs, and meet Granny. 

Wenesday we went up to Kings Mountain to see a Bible referral, but they weren't able to meet after all, so we visited some less-active members and introduced Sister Christiansen to them. One of them had a cat that had just had five kittens that morning. You can imagine my excitement. Thursday we had planning and bingo and more planning, because I had to explain a lot of people. 

Things really picked up on Friday because we, along with the elders, were running a booth about family history and familysearch.org at the Strawberry  Festival, which was basically a little fair with a lot of strawberries. The first day, which started at 3, was a little slow because it was pretty cloudy and damp. But Saturday was busy which was geat for us since we were there for about ten hours. Needless to say we all got to know each other really well. It was super fun and we actually got to talk to a lot of people and introduce them to FamilySearch. You'd be surprised at how many people are interested in their anscestors. You'd also be surprised at how many people could recognize us as missionaries, even in our "casual civilian" disguises. I did get to practice some of the sign language I learned in college, too, when a lady came up who I had seen signing with her family before. She was so happy that I even tried to sign, even if I couldn't do it super well. 

The strawberries were phenomenal, also. We were right across the way from a booth with farm-fresh stawberries (as in, a truck came from the farm every few hours with more strawberries they had picked) and at the end, the man gave us a whole bucket for free to split with the elders. They were delicious and so perfectly ripe. 

Sunday was Mother's day, which means... video calls home! It was great to see the fam and have a nice talk. It also felt kind of very weird. Anyway, I am thankful for technology that lets us talk face-to-face with people in two different places across the country. It's pretty neat. 

We are starting off full speed ahead this transfer. Keep praying for missionary experiences, y'all! 

Love,

Sister Reay  

Pictures: 

Saying goodbye to Sister Hill 

Saying hello to Sister Christiansen!

Can you count all five?

Our booth with Elder Hulet and Elder Rees

And also strawberries!

Long Story Short: I'm Still Here

Its a busy day so this email might be a bit short. 

Transfers were this week, and as we expected, Sister Hill is leaving and going to Lincolnton. I will be picking up my new companion, Sister Christiansen, tomorrow in Charlotte. It's sad to have Sister Hill leave, since she is a great companion and I've learned so much from her. But I've been told that Sister Christiansen is great as well, so I'm looking forward to it. Also... We are becoming a full car area!!!!! Which means no more bike week (at least for the time being)! And just in time for summer, too. What a relief. 

Highlights from the week:

I woke up Thursday thinking I had pinkeye. But it was caused by allergies and was not contagious. Thank goodness for eye drops. 

We had interviews with President and Sister Alexander on Thursday. He said he was very impressed with my progress and my strong eye contact. 

On Friday we had dinner with the Moores, and boy was that a treat. Brother and Sister Moore have been in barbecue competitons for years, and Bro. Moore has won first place in all sorts of meat categories in North Carolina, South Carolina, AND Virginia (rumor has it the first time he cooked duck was in a barbecue competition... and he won). So in other words, this was the absolute BEST barbecue I have ever had! We had brisket, pulled pork, chicken, and ribs, along with homemade slaw and the most delicious coconut cake (which  we helped make). The ribs were my favorite. 

Anyway, it was a fantastic week. I am looking forward to this exciting change! Keep looking for missionary experiences, y'all. 

Love, 

Sister Reay 

Pictures: 

Bro. Moore and his 'cooker' 

Tasty meats 

Humidity is not my friend but everyone else is

Happy Monday y'all! 

Last week started off great with a zone conference, where two zones got together and had a meeting with President and Sister Alexander and a lot of the other mission leaders get together with us. It was really great. Sister Alexander told us some interesting history about North Carolina, and particularly the Battle of Kings Mountain in the Revolutionary war, which was pretty neat since that's in our area! We even had General Cornwallis and an "Overmountain Man" visit with us (senior missionaries are great and I wish I had a picture of their costumes). Anyway, the point of her story was that the South has been prepared for religious freedom and the chance to hear the gospel! President Alexander emphasized that we must bring others to Christ, since they might not be able to get their on their own. And the Assistants taught us how to plan better. We also learned that (gasp) we will no longer be holding zone meetings, only zone conferences and district meetings. It's a little disappointing because zone meetings were great, but this also means we won't have to get rides as much. 

After zone conference, we had the chance to do exchanges- again! Sister Nunies came down to Shelby with me this time. We had dinner with the H family and had a great time. Our appointment that night cancelled, so we went to visit Granny (she insists we call her that instead of Sister M) at White Oak. Sister Nunies loved her, of course. Afterwards, we tried to visit someone with Sister H, but she wasn't home, and we ended up talking to some drunk people on the sidewalk that were headed to the corner to panhandle. It was an interesting conversation. 

On Wednesday Siter Nunies and I did studies and helped a member with their garden, then drove out to Gastonia with Sister P to exchange back. We visited some people in Kings Mountain and had dinner with the B family, which is always a great time. 

Thursday we were supposed to take the car in to FINALLY get the front fender replaced, but when we called to make sure it was okay, they told us the insurance wasn't quite worked out yet and we would have to wait. Bureaucracy. So our poor little crippled car will have to continue on for a little while longer. It was actually kind of a relief, because without the car we would have had to start bike week a few days early. Because we had the car we were able to go to a Relief Society gardening activity. We had invited a potential investigator, but she wasn't able to come. That was disappointing, but we did get a nice little pepper plant to take home. Its name is Petey. I don't even like peppers, but it's a cute little plant. 

Because of the insurance mix-up we were a little all over the place, so on Friday we had to finish our weekly planning. We also managed to talk to E over the phone. She is going through some really rough times that make it difficult to meet with her, so she could really use some prayers! We were able to share a few scriptures and pray with her, and that seemed to help a little. 

On Saturday we woke up a little early and went out with some ward members to do service by helping people set up for an arts fair in town square. It was really fun, and everyone was super grateful for the help. We pretty much have setting up canopies down to a science now. 

On Sunday I finally had the chance to give a talk I had been assigned my second day in Shelby. I actually wasn't even scheduled to talk yet, but someone wasn't able to come, and luckily I had studied up on it. The topic was fasting, so that wasn't very difficult, and it went really well. We also got to visit Sister T and her two kids, D and D. We played Uno and Connect 4 and got to meet their new potbelly pig. It was so fun. 

The weather is warming up here in Shelby, so I have a feeling that bike week is going to be fun :P 

Love y'all! 

Sister Reay