07/07/14 - Week 73! {Week 2 of Transfer 13} "Chalk!"

Hello :)

This week was the 4th of July just as you all know....and we did something super cool as a mission!! We went to a local park on the 4th and drew out the Plan of Salvation IN CHALK. And as we drew it, people would walk by and look at it and we would snatch them and teach them all about the Plan of Salvation. It was so neat! There were TONS of people there. We were with half of our zone in Cincinnati, Ohio. We did it at two different parks and we had a great turn out. They kicked us out of the first park after we had lunch...but I guess God had to get us to the other park too somehow! But we talked with some really neat people. We also had a crazy experience when we were sitting down eating lunch. (Which we got at a suuuper sketchy Kroger downtown. There were cops there to supervise and everything p.s.)  [[but we were safe, the Elders literally created a circle around us wherever we walked]]. This little girl, who was maybe...4, came up to us and handed us temple pass-along-cards. And no, she wasn't member.... Uh...?? She had gotten them somehow and was walking around the park handing them out to everyone. And of course, no one could resist a cute little 4 year old! We should give pass along cards to little kids to hand out more often! But we took a picture of some of us with the cards in our hands.

We also had another CRAZY rainstorm this week! We were luckily in the car when it was really bad, but there was some intense lightening. I took some videos, so I will have to show you..but it split some trees in our apartment complex! When the storm passed, we could still see the lightening, and it was literally like war of the worlds. Were it was silent but there was lightening coming down in the same spot over and over again. We took a video of that too. I really haven't seen anything like it. We had our power out for about an hour that night. It was quite the adventure, but really fun too :D But no worries, no one got hurt or anything.

THANK YOU FOR YOU PRAYERS!! We finally got 2 people at church! We have been working so hard to get 2 people to come to church for the past 4 weeks, and have been unsuccessful. But I know that your prayers to help us, sent us God's grace. We had two cute little boys come to church with us and our neighbor. The boys absolutely loved it. And the younger one (who is 7) was asking me all about baptism and the sacrament during sacrament meeting. At the end he said "I want to go to this church until I am 8." I said, "Why??" He said, "Because then I can get baptized!!!" It was the cutest thing! They are 7 and 10 and absolutely adorable. They are so interested in learning about church and always ask questions. We are trying to get their grand parents involved because they aren't really church goers, but with more prayers and with God's help, we can get them there!

I don't have a ton of time, but I hope you all know that the Lord loves you! Keep doing the little thing

s every single day. They really do matter. We meet so many people each day who just "fell out of the habit" of coming to church. It is through small and simple things that great things are brought to pass. But the great thing doesn't just have to be salvation, it can be destruction. Satan usually works by small means. But we can overcome him! We did once. In the pre-earth life, we all overcame him. In Revelations 12, it talks about the war in heaven. And how we overcame him. We can do those same things today to fight him off. We are the valiant of the valiant and we have power given to us that will always overcome evil if we choose. I love you all so so much!

I love you all!!! Have a week of happiness!!

Sister Emilee Farr

06/30/14- Week 72! {Week 1 of Transfer 13} "Just Keep Swimming..."

Hey!

First of all, the title has two reasons behind it. The first is because we had a HUGE rain storm this week! It was crazy. I have never seen one like it. And Sister Bowers and I were out caught in it :) It was 8:40PM and we don't go in until 9:00PM so we decided to go and contact a potential investigator. It had been raining off and on all day long, but it really hit as we pulled up to their house. We said our prayer and it just started pouring like none other. We had an umbrella....but it wasn't going to do anything. The rain would have crushed it. And we didn't want to get struck by lightening. So, we decided it couldn't be that bad and we just ran to their door. To our surprise, stepping out of the car was more like stepping into a shower! It was crazy! We ran as fast as we could, to realize that it was actually the wrong house...so we ran next door....and it was still the wrong house number. hah....so we ran back to the car. We were absolutely drenched! Our hair was dripping and it was running down our arms. Goodness gracious. I can't even explain it. But hopefully you can see it in some of the pictures.

The other reason why it was titled to keep swimming is because we had another week full of opposition. The devil is working so hard! We had an awesome Tuesday and Wednesday and then Thursday hit...and man....it was like everyone left Kentucky and no one was home or available!! It was insane. We had no members out with us and even when they came, none of our investigators would be home. We still saw little miracles in finding new people, but we are struggling to get them to come to church. We have been trying so hard to get at least 2 people to come to church here, but it has been crazy hard! We have consistently had 1 at church, but we are technically supposed to have two as leaders. No need to fear though, we will get them! Just say extra prayers that people will come to church! :D

 

We had a less-active we have been working with kind of....tell us to leave and say she didn't want to hear any more. :( We had a member with us and it wasn't a very good experience for her. She gave us back the Book of Mormon too. We have been working with her for a long time and she was progressing so well! But then all of the sudden the past few times she has been having lots of doubts and has slid back. It was so sad. The good thing though is that she called us the next day and apologized for getting so worked up. She LOVES Sister Bowers like her own daughter. But we aren't so sure where it will go from here.

We had a really great experience with our investigator, Angelica. She has recently had some surgeries and has been hard to get in with. Usually we just stand on her porch. But on Tuesday we went over there, and we had set up to do a church tour. When we came over, she said she wasn't feeling good enough to go. She said she wasn't really in the mood too. We started talking with her, and it started to rain pretty hard. So she let us step inside. {And we weren't gonna let her not come}. So we were bold with her and told her how much it would help. After a few minutes, she decided to come, and her friend's mom came with her too! [she is a less-active]. It was an amazing church tour! The spirit was so strong. We showed them all around and when we got into the chapel, the spirit just took over. She told the member who was with us that she felt so good she could cry. While we were in the chapel, we started to talk about church and they both really opened up. We learned more about their past and everything. It was something that we really needed to have happen to teach them more to their needs.

Oh....hahaha..I just remembered this lesson we had with a cute old lady who is less-active in our ward. She is country! She grew up in a town where a DOG was the mayor...yes a dog...an animal....it is called Rabbit Hash, Kentucky. Anyways, they have pictures lining their walls all over. And none of the frames match :) It is sooo cute! She shows us the same pictures every time. But this time she was especially talkative. She showed us all of her things in another room..her blankets, pictures, souvenirs, trinkets, stuffed animals...everything. We couldn't get out the door without her telling us what all of her plants were and wind chimes and flowers. "This is a picture of four generations, me, my daughter, her daughter, and her little girl. This is a picture of me and Josh Hutchinson, did you know he is from Kentucky?? This is my Lamb chops, have you ever seen lamb chops? And my Raggedy Anne and Andy. This is my gorilla named ____. And my doll, Rachel; I crocheted all of her! I found this brown bear, brownie, on the play ground at the elementary school where I used to work. This is my cactus from ____. I got this flower from _____. I have had this bush for _____." And on it went :) hahaha. It was so cute. We were trying so hard not to just laugh because of how funny it was. She is just adorable. She is stubborn, but she sure loves her family and her little things.

We are excited to have a new week to start fresh. We are working hard and keeping our faith in Jesus Christ strong. We have Mission Leadership Council tomorrow, so you can expect some more pictures on the mission Facebook page :) I might even get to see Alyson Porter!! Crazy :D I love my mission. I have learned so much from being out here and meeting so many people. I have been challenged and stretched, and I have so much more to grow. But I am always grateful to my Father in Heaven for the opportunity he gave me to serve. It will change who I am forever.

I hope you all have a wonderful week! :D

Love you!!

Sister Emilee Farr