Monday, July 11, 2016

This is the best!

Hey y'all! Last Monday was the Fourth of July and it was awesome! We had a ward breakfast where I tried meh cheese grits. Later, the Sister missionaries in Fort Walton Beach 1st ward came over and gave us chocolate peanut butter cupcakes because they love us. We went to Bippy's, went to the mall where I bought some awesome cheap socks, then a super quick Walmart trip. Then a couple from the ward was so kind to invite us to their neighborhood barbeque! They picked us up and took us to the air force base community where their family lives. We had an awesome classic 4th of July meal with hamburgers and hotdogs. It was fun! It was nice (and weird, but mostly nice) to just sit and talk for a couple hours. :) We got to see some fireworks out the window on the way home.

On Tuesday we had district meeting and then went to Stewby's for lunch per tradition. I looooveeee Stewby's so much. Free plus delicious food equals happy Sister Jamison. Their shrimp and hushpuppies are the best thing ever. Then Sister Stephens and I went to the birthday party of Yogi and Tess's one-year-old granddaughter Ellana who is super cute (but not as cute as any of my nieces, teehee.) We tried to see a bunch of people, but no one was home. Later, we taught Roderick and Akeria who acted had been fed sugar at their day camp and were bouncing off the walls like crazy and didn't focus very well, bless their hearts. I sure love em.

Wednesday we taught Jim and Vicky about faith, and boy do they both have a lot of it! They read the Book of Mormon and pray together every day. Jim (he's the investigator) used to be really uncomfortable with praying, but he says it gets better and easier every day and he feels strengthened by it, especially as he continues to grieve over his daughter. His faith is such an example to me. And so is Vicky's as she continues to feel the joy of the gospel as she is coming back to church, reading the scriptures, and praying. I love them so much! That evening, we taught Roderick and Akeria about repentance. They are so good at remembering things and learning, but again, they were hardcore struggling to focus. So whenever one of them answered a question right, they would get a piece of paper, and whoever had the most pieces by the end of the lesson would have a treat the next time (hey, this is the first time we've ever had to resort to bribery.) Then Roy sat in on their lesson (the grandpa) and he answered the most questions, so we brought him a cupcake the next time. :) Roderick and Akeria are still working on focusing.

On Thursday Sister Vaughan from the ward took all four sister missionaries to Olive Garden for lunch (so many blessings). Afterwards, Sister Stephens and I taught Darren, a young guy that she and her previous companion were teaching just a little while before I came- they had to drop him because he wasn't keeping any commitments and didn't want to get baptized. But just the other day he called us and said, "Hey, I found that note you sisters left me. When do you want to come teach me again?" We hadn't left him any note and hadn't contacted him for a couple months... But we decided to go see him. After we taught him about the Plan of Salvation, Sister Stephens told me his heart has softened a ton- and when we asked him if he would be baptized if he came to know our message is true, he said yes! And ye had said no several months before! I don't know who left him that note, if there even was one, but it was definitely a tender mercy.

Friday was Sister Stephens' one year mark! She says she feels like she came out to the mission like a week ago, which makes me laugh because it feels like my year mark is forever away. It makes me so excited when she talks about how much she's grown and changed for the better over the past year because I want that for myself. We met with a woman named Nicola that we met at Roy's house. Nicola is a little interesting, she has schizophrenia and says a lot of funny things. But she's a child of God and I love her. :) When we met her at Roy's house, she sat in on a lesson with Roderick and Akeria and said things like, "Did you know Jesus died twice? Once in Jerusalem and once in Africa?" Haha, we had to gently correct that. When we were talking about how Jesus Christ helps us, she said, "Jesus Christ was a good man. But he's dead now." And then I said, "Nope, still alive!" trying to be kind but straightforward, and Nicola seemed to accept that, so I turned the conversation back to the lesson. Sister Stephens laughed about it for the next three days. But anywho, we went to Nicola's home where she lives with her mom Melissa who is way awesome, so now we have two new investigators!

More little miracles from last week:

We saw Leslie on Friday and had a lesson planned to help him understand the blessings of living the gospel actively. His friend Ivan came over while we were there. He's a rocket scientist and mechanical engineer who has a really strong belief in God but doesn't know what to really do with that belief. He asked a ton of awesome questions and seemed really interested in what we taught him. We're hoping to teach him soon!

Also on Friday, we were biking to an appointment and Sister Stephens turned the wrong way, but we stopped to talk to an awesome guy named Tyrone who has been looking for truth and was really intrigued by the Book of Mormon. We're meeting with him today and I can't wait!

We met another man when we were biking one day, named Jacolbey Jackson. Is that not the coolest name you've ever heard? I mentioned that there's a prophet on the earth today, and he was so shocked! We met with him yesterday, and it was the best lesson I've ever had. He is what we call a "golden investigator" because wow has God prepared him to receive the gospel! Jacolby grew up Baptist and has really strong faith in God, has recognized answers to his prayers his whole life, and he and his girlfriend are looking for a church to join as they just moved to Fort Walton. He asked the most perfect questions, I felt like I was back at the MTC teaching a fake investigator who's just too good to be true. But Jacolbey is real! He's "legit" as Sister Stephens says. :) He said, "I just wonder what my purpose in life is, ya know?" "I know God's there, but what does He want me to do?" "Does Satan exist?" "Do y'all believe in Adam and Eve?" Every one of these questions is answered by the Plan of Salvation, and they're all in that lesson, but he asked them even before we even mentioned anything about them. At the end of the lesson, we asked him what he thought. He said he felt like it's all true, and he said, "ya know, I just feel something. It feels good." That was the Spirit! And then he said, "So next time can we talk about me joining y'alls church?" Wowwowowowow! We left that lesson feeling like we were floating on clouds.

Last thing, I promise. Yesterday, I spoke in church about the Book of Mormon, and I think it went pretty well. After church, Sister Stephens and I went to the ward organist/ music director's house to talk about a musical number, and we knocked on her door and waited around for like ten minutes because our backup plan had fallen through. But we saw lights on and her car was there, so we knew she was home and we didn't know how else to spend our time. So we said a prayer, and the second I said "amen," we heard dogs bark in her back yard, and then she opened the front door! It was an awesome tender mercy. We were able to plan our musical number and also visit with her, which I think she greatly appreciated. And I got to geek out over music with her. :)

This week has been incredible! So many tender mercies and miracles! We have three new investigators and we have two potential investigators. We've met and talked to so many awesome people that have a lot of faith. And these are all such answers to Sister Stephens' and my prayers to find the people that God has prepared to receive the gospel. I know that God and Jesus Christ live and that this is truly Their work. I see prayers answered every day. I love being a missionary, it's so fun! I invite you to pray to be able to recognize God's hand in your life and to write down what you recognize. You'll be able to feel closer to Him and know that He is in the details of your life. Love y'all!  
 
Sisters Jamison and Stephens with Roy

 Sister Jamison is getting lots of driving practice!
 

Boiled peanuts
  
Patriotic Sisters on the Fourth of July

The missionaries are well fed
 

 Its not the beach, so they're allowed to go...


Good ol' southerners

Crazy bike rack stacking!


 A visit with Jim and Vicky

What is the "porpoise" of life?

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