Walkin' in Memphis!

I am in Memphis! Well actually Bartlett. But pretty much memphis. It is a really nice area with really nice houses and nice people. I didnt realize how sketchy of an area I was in before until I came here. But I like it so far. It is really different. I am with sis. Smith whose is great! Her spanish is super good. I feel like I am going to learn a lot from her.

 

So last week I didnt have time to write an email but just some of the highlights. We helped with the tornado clean up which was crazy (just picking up lots of trees and making piles to burn) I got a rose from the Elders investigators after a lesson with him-he came running out of the house to give it to me and only brought 1 when there was 3 of us... I got the lovely bike shirt from E. Ludwigs mom (I love her!) the members had us missionaries over after church last week to say bye because I gave my testimony in church and told them I thought I was leaving, went to the temple and had a lovely time! (about a 2.5 hour drive with a member who drove all of us up in her van), cried a lot saying goodbye to all the members/investigators that I loved from the area, and packed up all my stuff.

 

It is my first time getting transferred so this is all pretty new to me and a bit difficult. I really miss my last area and loved it SO much but I know I will like it here too. It will grow on me. There are so many more hispanics over here! The branch is a lot bigger! I got to go in and help out in primary the other day with the piano. that was fun :) I also played for the primary during sacrament while they sang a mothers day song. It is hard to be here on holidays. Especially mothers day because you cant go give your mom a big hug.

 

We are on bike week this week and have already found lots of cool new people. They were teaching some really cool people before I got here that are preparing to be baptized. It is fun to get to meet new people and hear their conversion stories. We are having a baptism of an eternigator this Sunday. Her wedding was beautiful and we were able to read messages on her phone of her son who lives in Mexico. He went on a mission and has wanted her to get baptized all her life. When she told him (in the messages I read) that she decided to get married so she could get baptized it made me cry. He was so happy and so excited for her and told her he has wanted this for them his whole life. Its just a testimony to me that you should never give up and keep trying because one day is always the right day for someone and here in Bartlett I am trying to work hard to find those people who are ready to make that covenant like Ruth is :)

 

Skyping everyone was so lovely yesterday! I realized just how much I miss seeing all of your faces! But next mothers day I will be home to give you all a big hug! I love you all and pray for you every day :)

 

Con amor,

Hermana Goudie

**Pictures from last week**

Tornado Season...

Family! How are you? I am safe. And survived the first tornado. I am so sad to hear about the damage and lives that were lost. Hopefully we wont have too many tornadoes this year...

So this week was good. We got a referral this week from Jacksonville elders of this guy that they were teaching that is moving to North Little Rock to try and find work at a restaurant. He didnt have a phone or a car but he told us that he was going to be at this restaurant tomorrow and he would wait for us there. Usually investigators say things but dont really mean them but we decided to follow through and we went and sure enough he was there at the restaurant. He was awesome. His name is Jorge. We read 3 nephi 11 with him and he was SO ecstatic that the book of Mormon shows that Jesus Christ came to the Americas. He got out from his suitcases 5 books and said he has written all of them from the evidence and research he has done that Jesus Christ came to the Americas. He knew a lot about Joseph Smith and he is so ready. We asked him to be baptized and he said of course! He wants to be baptized on the 24th of June though because it is the day of John the Baptist. We asked him to be baptized on the 3rd of May. So that it could be HIS day. But he said he would pray about it. The next day we get a call from the Jacksonville elders saying he didnt like that restaurant so he moved back to jacksonville and the next day he would be heading to Jonesboro to try to find work there. We got ahold of the member that was driving him there and he wanted the spanish missionaries info in jonesboro so we gave it to him. We called jonesboro and they said they were going to meet him at a restuarant like we did. This man will get baptized. He went to church in Jonesboro too. Ah I wish I could teach this guy but being able to teach him just the once was lovely. 

Speaking of lovely the weather here this week was lovely. We had correlation meeting outside this week, weekly planning outside, soccer games outside. Outside is just lovely. And do yall want to hear some great news?????? I FOUND ELDER LUDWIGS BIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were contacting a referral who we met at Loves Fish Market a long time ago and his house was vacant... no one lived there. Gotta love missionary work :) But then we tried the house next door to see if it was spanish but got distracted by the cute little chihuahuas on the porch. Out of the corner of my eye I see two kids riding bikes and ever since they lost their bikes I have been on the lookout. One of the bikes was way too big for this girl and I knew Elder Ludwigs bike was HUGE! I told sis. Peterson I think those are the Elders bikes. So we run up the hill into the car (pretty sure sis. Peterson thought I was crazy) and back up super fast and follow them! As we got close I realized that the big huge bike had the same home made bag that Elder Ludwig had made to put copies of the Book of Mormon in. So we pulled up next to them and Sis. Peterson asked where she got that bike. She said that it wasnt hers and that her friend found it. We then told her that it was our friends bike and she said she would take us to where the friends house was. so we followed her. A 13 year old boy comes out and said that he found the bike in a ditch and told us we can take it back. So we just hooked it up to our car and drove away with it. We called the North Elders and E. Ludwig was so excited! They met us down the street and called cops and what not. Still on the look out for E. Ramirez bike. 

We had a really good week with members coming out with us. We went out with an English convert member who knows spanish. We also went out with recent convert Dora, who is a bit crazy. But we met this guy whose ex-wife is a member and 2 kids are members. We talked to him and at first said that he studies the bible and that thats all he needs. We told him that the Book of Mormon testifies of the Bible and gave him the chapter to read. Dora bore her testimony of why she got baptized and the Book of Mormon. It was good.

It was Alfredos BDAY ON SATURDAY!!!!!! He is so stinkin cute. He told us that is his first bday party ever in his life and he is so grateful for all of us and some of the most memorable memories in his life has been since he has been here. I love that man. I cant wait until he has to the opportunity to go back to Mexico with his family and baptize his wife and kids. 

We had Estebans baptism yesterday! Emily also got baptized. She is 8. She is a daughter of a less active member. It was a beautiful program. They asked us to sing come thou fount with the uke. So we did. Esteban is so stinkin cute. He is 64 and just got baptized. love it. 

So... last night we were at Ben and Toms house for dinner. We got a text from E. Ramirez that said to get in and stay in because there were tornado warnings. Dinner had just gotten finished and the lights flickered a bit and then the sirens went off. I freaked out but he told us that there wasnt any wind or rain so not to worry. He showed us where their basement is and then we turned the TV on for the news and saw that the tornado was really close to us but heading north. So we sat down and ate dinner. He gave us a key so that if there is another tornado close we can go in to their basement to stay safe. So kind of them :) But keep those affected by the tornado in your prayers. I have heard there is a lot of damage and some members up there passed away. 

Well thats about it for the week. One more week of the transfer. We find out next Monday if we are getting transferred. I have a feeling I am going to leave. I really dont want to :( Also next week we are going to the temple so I wont be emailing until later. But I love you all! Have a great week! 

Hermana Goudie

Went to Scholtzkys this week with Sis. Warner and Durfee

This is a family we found this week. After the lesson she goes in her room and comes
back out with a Utah shirt on. Crazy huh? She didn't even know we were from Utah
and said she just got the shirt from her friend.

Spanish North Missionaries.

I love Sis. Peterson

Random close up that E. Ludwig decided to take.

It was alfredoes Bday! We had a little fiesta!

The Beautiful Castle on Stagecoach.

Last pday we went on a hike in Boyle Park and it was raining. So we were a bit wet.

The pond at the park.

We are a bit crazy.

SIster Wilkins and I with some beautiful flowers. Saying bye to her :(
She is head to Conway.

LAke COnway. We were out with Sis. Foster and got lost (her GPS died) next
thing we knew we were in Conway! Oops... we thought we might as well take a pic.

Sis. Peterson and I with Lake Conway in the background.

We didn't get in... although we wanted to!

Sis. Foster and I. SHe is so awesome. I am going to miss her
when I have to leave. :)

For all the short people out there! This college is for YOU!!!

Just a bridge in downtown NLR

Oops...

Looking out at the railroad!

Coca Cola! Downtown NLR

Happy Easter! Decorations from a package from my lovely mom. Sorry these
pics are from last week but I forgot my memory card.

Sis. Franklin and Sis. Foster. LOVE them! This was on Easter. Hence the Confetti.

Mi companera!

Singing Come Thou Fount in spanish with the uke!

At the capitol!

Classic jumping pic.

Hold to the Rod award - for memorizing a scripture for each lesson point. E Ramierez got
it too and E. Ludwig got the Liahona which is doing every activity in PMG. They didn't
have our Hold to the Rods yet so we used crayons to pretend.

I FOUND ELDER LUDWIGS BIKE!!! Some girl was riding it down the street
and we chased them down!

Weekly planning takes forever and we are pretty white. So we moved the table outside
and planned while we tanned. :)

The foster kids at their soccer game!

Kahler. So Stinkin Cute.

Chillin.

EASTER!!

Best news about the week: WE HAVE FULL CAR!!!!!!!!!! at least until the end of the transfer. It was $1300 in the making. Thanks to the Elders. Their bikes got stolen this week (they didnt lock them up because they were only going to be in the house for a few minutes and they were right in the front yard). I felt terrible and we pulled up right after it happened and tried to hunt them down but we couldnt find them anywhere. We talked to lots of people though and gave them a mormon.org card with our number so that they can call if they find it #missionary work.

This week we went on exchanges with Sis. Training Leaders (sis. miller) to their area (english). It was good :) I always learn a lot from her. We also saw the frog that lives in their backyard in the empty pool. We played volleyball too and their was a guy there that reminded me so much of dad. He was SO into the game and was on the ground more than his feet. 

Went out with sis. foster this week. Went out to North Little Rock and saw Alina. Always a great time when we go out with Sis. Foster :) She took us to Guadalajara Taqueria and it was delicious. My first torta :) We got a little lost on the way back. We ended up in Conway and took some pics of the lake. Her gps wasnt working. Dora also went out with us and we passed out invitations to our two activities this last weekend. 

On Friday we had a church tour and we watched The Testaments at the church. It was good :) But we didnt have any investigators come though :( Next time for sure we will try even harder to get them to come. Two members came up after the movie and told me that I look like the girl from the movie (definitely a compliment to me) and that another missionary here looks like the guy. It was weird watching that in Spanish and even weirder watching a movie period. I forgot that people actually do that. Watch movies. Missionary life. Love it! 

Saturday night we wen to lunch with Sis. Hernandez and then got a snow cone at the snow cone shack that she works at. We talked to some pretty cool Hispanics there of course! Afterwards we went and found some houses with Christmas lights and mops (hispanics) and met them and prayed with them. Found some pretty cool peeps. 

We were invited to Luis nieces quincenera Saturday night. Stephanie is her name and she looked beautiful. We couldnt stay for the program though. We got some yummy food though and saw a lot of people that we have been teaching there. I had never been to a quincenera and its crazy! It is like a wedding reception. Super crazy fancy decorations. Afterwards we went to play soccer with the branch and investigators and there were TONS of people that showed up. It was awesome :) 

Yesterday was EASTER!!!!! Us spanish sisters and sis. Franklin sang for sacrament. Sis. Franklin is awesome and found come thou fount of every blessing in spanish. We practiced it with the Uke but we had a Suzuki piano teacher come and play for us for sacrament. We had dinner at the franklins (delicious fried chicken) with the fosters too last night and we had an easter egg hunt with the kids. 

I hope yall had a great Easter. I definitely missed you all so much. Holidays are hard. Just seeing all these families together makes me miss my own wonderful lovely family. But its all good :) I get to talk to you soon for Mothers day.

I know I need to be here at this time in my life and I am learning so much and loving sharing the restored gospel to the people here. I will be so sad when I have to leave this area. I have made so many friendships. But I know I will learn to love any area I go to. I am just so grateful for all the members here and their help and support with this work. 

Also, I just want to share my testimony that I know Christ lives. I know that he died for each and every one of us and that he lives today. He knows us better than anyone and we need to rely on Him and use his Atonement to be able to return back to him one day and live with our families for eternity. I love this gospel. It brings me so much joy :) 

Hermana Goudie

Look at this cure car!

Torta!

At the snow shack! :)

The cutest little girl at the quincenera.

Me and the coolest comp. at the quincenera.

Stephanie. The reason for the party!

A salt shaker!

Alfredo playing the uke.

After church on Easter.

The Lovely Carrot Cupcakes that sis. Franklin made!

P-Day!!

Our grass is growing - Sis. Petersons mom sent us some grass kits.