June 27, 2013

Dear Parents—

Your missionary is now serving in the boundary of the new Georgia Macon Mission.  I personally am very sad to lose the association I have had with these great missionaries.  It has been my pleasure to serve with them and am very impressed by them and their great service to our Savior and His work.  Thank you for your sacrifice in having them serve a mission.  We certainly love them!!

Because of the change in the Georgia Atlanta Mission and the creation of the Georgia Macon Mission, you will now need to send your mail and packages to your missionary at the following address.

Georgia Macon Mission

400 Northside Crossing
Macon, GA 31210

 Please share this address with family members and friends

Ok I really don't have much time but I am going to try to tell this story the best I can!!

WHAT A WEEK!!!! I am floored that dad is in the Bishopric! I actually called it when you told me you had an interview last week! Haha actually I'm not surprised at all!  Dad has really been such a great example not only to me but to everyone that he comes in contact with!! Luv you daddy!! Sooner than you think you will be called to be Bishop!!! hahahaha

Ok so for me! Thank you for all your prayers! I truly have felt them! All last week I had been discouraged because I wasn't sure what exactly I was doing here in Cochran and if I was doing the will God wants me to do, and I had been a little selfish in asking him to see the fruits of my labors that way I can know that I am doing good.  Well I have received a tender mercy this week. Remember T_________ that I talked about last week? Well we have taught him every evening and we invited him to be baptized, and he said Yes! He is being baptized on July 6! I am so grateful that I am a part of this great work!  I am witnessing and being part of a miracle! To be honest, every hard day, every tear I have had makes it all worth it for this family! I am so grateful that Heavenly Father trusts me to teach them and to help them grow in the gospel! 

I am writing you a letter too because we have Zone P-day today and there is still so much I want to say so expect a letter this week!

Have not got the package yet but because its zone p-day I hope that I will be getting it today!!!! 

Like I said with the shoes, I have shoe glue (member gave it to me) and this shoe is not falling apart again! haha it's some great stuff. We have a joke so if anything ever breaks or falls apart, its not duct tape, its shoe glue! haha.  Well I still think I'm going to get some cheap flats at payless today that way my walking shoes will be saved for Argentina!

I FREAKING LOVED THE BROADCAST LAST NIGHT!!! It was incredible!! Everything that they had said just got me pumped and ready to work even harder! But it's true what they were saying how we need the members because tracting really is a waste of time! Cochran is such a small town that everyone knows who the missionaries are because the doors have been tracted 1,000,000 times! But we found T______ through members! So I have a challenge for the entire family! Well not really a challenge but a commitment. This includes parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and kids.

I am committing you to pray about people you know that are not members of the church or less active in the church. Ask for guidance from the Lord. Ask him who you know that is ready to hear the gospel because so many hearts have been prepared. This work is hastening and the Lord needs you just as much as he needs me! I am committing you all to become apart of this great and marvelous work! When you receive the revelation of the person you know who is ready to hear it, invite them over for dinner or for a visit. Invite the missionaries over too! This work is not hard and I want you all to see the blessings that I am witnessing!!

Love you and miss you more than you know!!!

~Hermana Creason

My days could be better. This week has been extremely rough. All but 1 of our investigators have dropped us or we can no longer get a hold of them.... it's rough. So we are starting from scratch again.... It is hard here because we are in the "Bible Belt" where everyone is Baptist and no matter how hard you try to explain to them about the church and the Priesthood, they don't understand. They think that Joseph Smith is just another "preacher" and that all preachers are "prophets" so it is extremely hard to help them understand that they are different!!! I don't know, it's frustrating. And I think that I am just getting selfish because I am not seeing the fruit of my labors. I am literally exhausted physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

On a good note, we do have a very good potential investigator! His name is T__________.  He was dating E___________. Did you ever get the email from S____________with a few pictures of us with her? Anyway, we love her and she is great! She feeds us every week and helps us out a lot! So her oldest daughter E__________.  So because they feed us so often we have gotten really close with this family and every time we share a message, he is really into it. So Me and Sister Snyder have had a huge prompting to ask if the church is something that he is interested in. We kinda postponed it because they have been getting ready for their wedding. We have been helping them a few hours this week (every week we need to do 4 hours of service) with the wedding and it was such a great surprise when we got an invitation for the wedding!!! My first southern wedding!!! It was on Saturday. So we went over to their house on Thursday to help them. Before we got in the house Sister Snyder said that she feels like we need to ask him tonight.... so we did and he said absolutely!! We are very excited about him! The wedding was good, I will send pictures!

Not much more to say about this week, it has been a hard one but it is all good! Yesterday Sister Snyder and I  have been feeling really sick and it's moved into today too so I feel a little crummy today... but I am taking care of myself!

OH and just so you know, some missionaries have been taking advantage of the emailing time and have gotten in trouble for it so here in this mission, emailing has been limited to an hour, so I have even less time to email people so just let the family know that writing me will be best because I will have time to read it and to write back! But I still want you to email me :) because I have your emails to read and I also have to report to my mission president here in Georgia and in Salta so I really don't have a lot of time to email everyone. But I have time to write letters on p-days and in my lunch breaks all the other days of the week. 

Don't worry my legs are alright, I knew that would freak you out! haha! Thanks for the package! I can't wait to get it! I have a zone meeting on Friday so hopefully I get it then!!! YAY!! I'm drinking a ton of water, I just got bit close to where my strap on my shoes go so it looked a little swollen. Speaking of shoes..... my black ones, the right sole came off a little bit but don't worry, I got some freaking amazing shoe glue and that sucker isn't coming off again! haha  There is a member in the ward that says that my shoes are not going to last a log time in Argentina so I had a thought, next pay we are going to be in Macon (a city that is much more populated than here) and there is a payless there. I'm thinking of getting a pair of black flats because we honestly don't do a lot of walking here because we have a car and that will save my shoes for Argentina..... just a thought though.

So speaking of Macon next Monday, We are having a zone p-day and I will only have like 30 min to write you that day so I will write you a letter with more detail!

I'm glad grandma got my address! I was actually going to write and ask how she is doing!

FISHING?!?!?! oh I miss that!! I forgot what normal things feel like! haha

Well I think that is all for now! But I want to share a scripture with you that I have fallen in love with! Mosiah 4:27

The scripture speaks for its self!!

Love y'all!

~Hermana Creason

Ok this week has been NUTS!!! I have lots to say so here it goes......

 

Oh SNAP!! __________ is back!!!! Ugh I am just so excited! Me and Sister Snyder just cant believe it!

So here is the story! On Tuesday we felt an impression to go see __________ so of course we did. When we got to her house she welcomed us into her home! WHAT?!?! This was the first time I have been in her home. All the times we taught her it was on her front porch. Anyway. So we were talking with her and she was really struggling. She said that earlier that morning her sister was lighting a cigarette and her hair caught on fire and burnt her face. Her ears were completely gone and was in intensive care. So __________ was really struggling. She was not in the mood for a lesson right then, but we comforted her with the Doctrine of Christ. We prayed with her and she told us to come back on Thursday. So we did. She had been waiting for us. We got inside and she had her Book of Mormon on the table and all the pamphlets she had been given. She said that she got up early this mornin and felt like she should read the pamphlets. She had a lot of questions that we clarified for her. Her biggest one was that she thought that Joseph Smith wrote the B of M. So when she prayed, she said that she felt the book was true but she didn't want to believe in a "man made bible". So we clarified and explained to her that he translated the book. We spent two hours just answering questions that she had. She said the more we talked and explained, the more the gospel made sense and she was drawn into it. YAY!!!!! Thank you so much for your prayers for her!!! It has been such a blessing to be able to teach her and to help her see the Gospel of Jesus Christ! We are seeing her tomorrow and we are going to invite her to be baptized! Keep her in your prayers this evening!

So the beginning of this week was so rough! We were getting everything ready for the new elders home and helping the Sisters that were leaving to pack and get the things they needed. Me and sister Snyder didn't really get to see a lot of our investigators this week because so much is going on. We got a brand new ward mission leader, so he has wanted a lot of our time, so this week has been long! School is out here and the youth love to come out with the missionaries! I wish that I had done that! I know that I could have but you know me and my lazy butt! :) But we take the youth out with us a lot. This week we also said goodbye to Sister Dias and Sister McRae. We all got really close it was heart breaking. But Esta Bien.

The Elders are alright. Elder Yeager and Elder Ditty. This is E. Yeager's 4th transfer and this is E ditty's 1st. They are nice but it's hard because they really don't want help from us, so it's hard when they really don't communicate when we really need to because we work in the same SMALL town. I don't know, we are just a little frustrated. Plus it is hard because the ward had very bad experiences with Elders a few years ago so that's why they sent sisters and they have fallen in love with sister missionaries! The ward is hesitant to work with them.  Which is nice for us but I feel bad for the Elders. 

Me and Sister Snyder are very confident about this next transfer. Its nice because we both have grown so much and she knows my weaknesses and my strengths and I know hers. Our lessons have become so much better and I believe that its because we have become so much closer to one another and we have a great friendship! It is funny because we are completely opposite people! and we would have never been friends if it wasn't for the gospel!

I am going to be 4 months into my mission on Thursday!!! Holy Cow!!!! I'm almost to 100 days! man these days just fly! They seem so long once you are in them but looking back, the MTC doesn't seem that long ago. But I pray that this week will be better! We had a lot on our plate spiritually. mentally and physically.

Ok funny story though...... it has been crazy stormy here. When it rains here, IT pours!!! So there are a lot of bugs out because of all the moisture in the air. You know on Honey boo boo where the gnats are all over? ITS DISGUSTING! They are horrible! They fly right up to your face and I got 2 in my eye yesterday! NASTY! Plus we have gotten eaten alive! I am going to send a picture of my legs... 28 mosquito bites on my body.... yeah fun huh? The one day I forget to wear bug spray. I always do but I was rushing out the door because we were late...... never again!!!!! haha and Sister Snyder doesn't watch where she walks and steps right onto a fire ants hill. She has 11 bites on her foot and it's swollen. But the ward members take really good care of us. They brought us cream and ice and food so we are ok. It's just a lesson to be learned :)

Ok another funny story. So as a missionary, we pray a lot right? RIGHT! So the other night we got home a little later than we should have and we forgot to pray as a companionship. So I'm dreaming and in my dream I say "oh my gosh Sister Snyder! We forgot to pray!" so in my dream I climbed out of bed and knelt down and I looked over and Sister Snyder and was wondering why she wasn't kneeling... so I was like oh well, I guess she can pray up there. So I begin the prayer. I then realized that I'm not dreaming........ HAHAHA it was so funny! yeah I have to keep this life interesting so now not only have I picked up mumbling, snoring when I dream about dad but now I have picked up praying in my sleep..... nice huh?

Oh I am sorry you had a crummy week! I was actually wondering when baseball would be over. I'm glad Conner is doing better and it sounds like he is doing great but that stinks that he was in that situation!  I pray for Him every night that is spirit of baseball wont dampen too much because he is so good at it and that he should continue to love it! I miss watching him play but I cannot wait to see him play because he will be FANFREAKIN FANTASTIC WITH 2 SNAPS AND A :) Ok if he is as tall as you, how tall is her gunna get? Send pictures!!! I miss your faces!!!!

Well I hope all else is well! I miss y'all a lot but the experiences I have had, I wouldn't trade for the world! I have you to thank for this experience! Just remember that when times are tough, you always have a missionary that prays for you in every prayer she gives! love y'all!

Gracias para ustedes aman y ayudan

~Hermana Creason

Hey there family! How is it goin? My heart is full today. Lots of stuff going on here so I will just jump right into it.

 

First off about transfers.... We found out this morning who is going/leaving.... Me and Sister Snyder are still companions and we are staying in Cochran!!! I am so excited! I really don't want to leave because we have worked so hard here and made so much progress with people! But the sad news is that Sister McRae and Sister Dias are leaving. They are being transferred to Gray about an hour and a half from here. It is so sad because we have been through so much together and its hard to say goodbye! And actually Sister Dias is a Sister from the temple square mission and is going back there in 12 days. She wants you guys to come see her there! She goes back home to brazil in August so go see her before then!

 

They have a lot of progressing investigators and because they are leaving we are picking some of them up so the past two days we have been meeting some new investigators to teach! But it's hard because they are so attached to the other sisters we have some big shoes to fill but I guess its ok because I have big feet ;)

 

Plus on top of that, because we are loosing a companionship, they are bringing one in.... Elders.... WHAT?!?!?! It's great that they think this area needs two sets of missionaries, but now its like Sisters vs. Elders! But I really don't want it to be like that! No offence to Elders but sometimes it feels like we compare numbers..... its frustrating but Esta Bien.

 

Later Wednesday night (p-day is from 10 am to 6 pm) we went tracting in this little apartment area and came across the Porch Gang!!! Scary!! I mean with their walkers and knitting needles I was scared to death! haha It was 4 older woman and they just sit with each other every night and talk! It was fun to get to meet them. They were not interested but I met my first "Gang" ;)

Friday Sister Snyder got really sick. We stayed home all day so I caught up on some studying. Spanish, Preach My Gospel, watched the Joseph Smith movie, more Spanish, it was a long day but now she is doing better :)

So yesterday at church was kinda a let down. __________ didn't come to church. It was hard because we have not been able to get ANY of our investigators to church but that is one of our goals that we really want to get!  After church it got really, really better! We went to Eastmon (one of the cities we have in our area) and we had a great few experiences! First is ___________. We have only met her once but have talked to her on the phone a few more times. Everytime we go to Eastmon, she is not available to see us. So last time we were there we put stickie notes on her door saying things like "we love you" "Read 2 Nephi ch 31 & 32" it was cute. Anyway, we have been really worried about her accepting the gospel. So we called and said that we were coming on Sunday and she said we could come over at 2. so we get over there and there is a note on the door saying "To my sisters of God, Minnie read scriptures. sorry, have a family emergency. want to see you soon my sisters" Is that cute or what?!?!?! We have been so worried about her but she is falling in love with the gospel! So great!!! Second miracle we went to go see one of the other sisters investigators in like their 80's. so we get there and their daughter answered the door and rushed us in. She was very welcoming and so nice! Her parents weren't available and she had to leave. So we were about to leave she asked "so when are you going to be in Eastmon again?" We told her Friday "oh ok well can y'all come over to my house?" Uhhhhh YEAH!!!! It was totally unexpected! Her name is ___________ (pray for her so that when we teach her, her heart can be prepared for the message) CRAZY CRAZY Sunday!!!

So now we are at today. Today is a district P-day and we are getting together with our district to play some games :) so yeah.... hahaha 

So no visa yet. They did tell me that the only info they get about visas is when they actually get them so the next news I will receive is when I have my visa. They just call me and say hey, its here! Then I leave like two days later :) but I have a feeling it will be a little while. Till then I just practice Spanish. I'm doing better actually making a time to study it everyday but its hard because I don't speak it all day long.... so yeah. I really think that I will come once I am immersed in the culture and I have no choice but to speak it!.......

 

HA I'm your inspiration?!?! I guess I got to do better than huh? haha no just kidding I know I'm FANFREAKIN FANTASTIC WITH 2 SNAPS AND A :)

I hope that you got to read the letter I sent to dads email last week because that was really sent to both of you. I know that you send this letter to the family but I wanted you two to have a letter for your selves ;)

AND a little boy (not going to write his name) has not written me a little while. Just a reminder little boy, remember I told you if you don't write me every week, then you don't get a souvenir from Argentina???? Just something I want you to think about..... haha NO but seriously dude! I get all the baseball info plus all the details of your life from mom and dad.... isn't it your life? and shouldn't you be telling your sister about your life???? haha no I love you bud and I miss ya! but because I miss you, I want to hear from you, and I want a picture of your drawing of a dragon!!!!!

Dad I'm still praying for your job! Here is a scripture I have for you D&C 98:1-3 there is a key word in there. "waiting patiently" I know those words stink but it's true! I have come to have faith in this scripture because as long as it is a righteous desire from your heart God will answer you to your benefit. Faith in God includes Faith in his Timing :)   

Hope you know I feel your prayers and I know that its your prayers that give me the strength to move forward and to stand tall and steadfast and to take it day by day!

 

Todos mi amor, 

~Hermana Creason