I Am Getting Transferred!

Hey everyone!

So this week was a bit full of surprises. We had our last zone conference with Pres. Peterson. It was super good and I am going to miss them a lot! They have taught me so much. We get our new mission president from tonga in a couple weeks. When I saw sis. mitchell (I hadnt seen her in awhile) I realized how much I missed her and her lovely hugs. I really just needed to talk to her and a few tears may have been shed in the process. I love her so much :) she really is one of my favorites.

We went on exchanges with the Jackson sisters right after zone conference. As we were praying about it I felt that I needed to go to Jackson (and I wanted to go there with sis. mitchell) but sis. smith felt that sis. mitchell should come here. So I went to jackson with sis. Johnson and had a great time :) She is super fun. But crazy story! We went out to lunch with a member and she was asking a lot about me and my family. The conversation of my uncle serving in the mission got brought up. I was like "not sure if you know a todd ashby but he served in this mission awhile back" she was like "GET OUT! I remember him completely. He was an awesome elder!" It was super cool. I didnt know if I would ever meet anyone that knew him being spanish and all but jackson is an english area and they dont have a spanish branch. But I really hope I get to serve there some day. It would be cool to serve where my uncle did. being up there with lots of english members for the day, we got fed a LOT! It was nice :) and we got free snowcones too ;) the bishop up there owns it.

Just a random funny. Lain totally threw mangoes at me and sis. smith this last week when we stopped by their house ;) he loves us ;)

And crazy story. On exchanges sis. smith and mitchell met a jehovas witness guy that set up another time to meet with them. we went to the lesson and he had brought a friend with him (jdub missionary) and we had a 2 and a half hour lesson with them at the park. They were pretty much trying to convert us... it was funny. good thing I had sis. smith there to show them all the scriptures to back up what we were saying. she is really good at scriptures. it was interesting to be on the other side of it though and realize that sometimes my investigators might feel like this when we open to a scripture and dont explain whats going on or when we ask silly questions. It was a good teaching experience. I just bore a firm testimony that I knew that what we shared was true and it was cool how the spirit was there the whole time testifying to me that the church of jesus christ of latter day saints is the only true church on the earth today. \

We got to go to the temple today for pres. last time. Only the sis. training leaders and zone leaders got to go and since sis. smith is about to be STL we got invited last night. It was a really good experience. I love the temple :)

Well thats about it for the week. I am getting transferred and excited to have new adventures and find new people in a different area. Love you all!

Hermana Goudie

I got to see Elder Ludwig too at Zone Conference. I have missed my cousin!

Reunited with Sis. Mitchell!

The Yarbroughs who know Todd!

Sis. Tudon is the cutest person alive. I love her!

Like mother like daughter (Mission mother that is!)

I am going to miss the Zuccheros. Their Story is amazing.

We caught a lizard on our deck!

The Garcia Family. Love them. This is the little kid who got bit by a dog.

The Hermosillos! Love them too!

Bike Week Otra Vez

Hey family,

 

So this week we were supposed to get the car back on Tuesday originally, then it switched toThursday, then Friday. So we had another bike week! It was lovely. We got some definate tanlines and a great work out. We were supposed to be on bike week again this week but E. Pribyl felt bad so he switched the car share around so we have the car again :) It feels so lovely to have A/C again!

 

We went on exchanges this week and I met sis. bradford. She is so amazing! she has such a beautiful voice and we helped her find a song to sing at an activity that they were havingsunday night. It was like a music devotional with songs about the Savior. They live with members and they have a piano and a ping pong table in their house. It was so cool! I met some cool members that fed us a delicious meal and also met one of their recent converts Roselda who is 83 years old and just got baptized in March. She is amazing! We went over and played some go fish with her and then shared some scriptures. Her prayers are the cutest. In her prayer she said that she was so grateful for us and that she really likes us. She then said "I am not sure if they like me but I really hope they do." We love her. She does not like long hair though and told me I need to cut it off and donate it to the little kids ;) shes pretty hysterical. She reminded me of great grandpa a bit-maybe a little bit more crazy. But she loved to sing songs with us.

 

One of the days we were riding our bikes a huge storm randomly appeared and started raining super hard. We were in a neighborhood and were just knocking on doors because we couldnt drive anywhere. no one wanted to listen. We knocked on a door and asked to share a message with them and they said no but like we always do we asked if any of their neighbors were hispanic. they said across the street they were. So we tried but they werent home. We went back the next day and met Veronica who was super nice and really loved the message we shared and said she would come to church and be baptized but wants to learn more. She did not speak spanish but her dad did. So as we were leaving we wrote down her name and found out that her last name was orellana who is another way awesome family we are teaching. we asked if they were related and she said yes. we went over to the orellanas (the ones we have been teaching) house last night and veronicas dad happened to be there and we shared a message with him and he told us that his daughter had been reading in the book of mormon and pamphlet we left with her and he said that it was really interesting. we gave him a book of mormon and taught him the restoration and he said he too would be baptized but first wants to come to church and is excited to come to church. These two families are so cool and I know they are ready. I know at times in the mission we struggle at finding the elect but when we are at the hardest times and just want to go in from the storm is when God really sees that we are trying and doing his will that is when we find those that are willing to listen to us and act on the message.

 

Well I love you all and hope you all have a great week!

 

Con amor,

Hermana Goudita

Roselda :) 83 year old convert. She had to get dunked 6 times... she is so stinkin cute!

Sis. Bradford our Sis. Training leader. I love her and she has the most beautiful voice.
We sang together and played Jar of Hearts. It was so fun!

A friendly reminder from the South!

Memphis Bike Weeks! :)

Hey family!

 

So we were on bike week this week. We had to take the car in to get it fixed because someone hit the car when it was parked (this was before I got here). So we were on bikes and will be on bikes again next week. Gotta love bike weeks. I am getting some pretty great tanlines though. I dont have hardly any time at all today because we are going to play volleyball with the zuccheros in like 20 min.

 

This week I took a day trip to MISSISSIPPI!!!!! It was super great. I went on exchanges with sis. johnson and loved it! we had dinner with the Tudon family who are awesome and almost set a date with one of their investigators. in the morning for workout we played volleyball. Their aparment complex has a sand volleyball place and 4 sets of missionaries live there so that was fun. We also had some great time singing and playing the uke with the ASL sister that live with the south sisters.

 

Ruth got confirmed yesterday so that was lovely. We also spent the hours of sunday school and relief society in the primary because there were no teachers. Man that was hard to keep them entertained and quiet. we did lots of singing though and it was super fun :)

 

Besides lots of biking in the hot Memphis weather, the week was good :) Love you all!

 

Hermana Goudie

This is Ruths puppy that they just got. He reminds me SO much of Rascal. He is so
stinkin cute. His name is Roy. Lain (her son) is a little bit rough with him.

Volleyball in Mississippi. :)

Every 3rd fast Sunday or so we have a break the fast with the branch. Viri (the one braiding)
loves to brain my hair. I love it too. :)

"Today Was a Really Great Week"

Hey family! My week was good. My companion accidentally said this the other day at the end of a day and it was totally true. pretty much describes every day of this week. All the days were super long but really good. we had lots of success this week and taught and found lots of new elect people :)

Some other fun things. we helped a less active who is a professional at making dresses (wedding dresses, quincenera dresses, you name it). We met a white cuban this week. It was so weird seeing her speak spanish because she was whiter than my comp. who is pretty white. we had a lesson with connie saying shes not sure if she believes in god anymore. That was a fun lesson. It ended well though and there might have been a few tears shed ;)

Also, we went to go to the apartment gym the other morning and on the way there we saw lots of frogs at the pond. we tried to catch them but they were all too fast and jumped in the pond. they were pretty big too. there was this weird goosish (not a word I know) noise coming from the edge of the pond behind a tree and we went to see what it was and it was just a HUGE toad. It was cool. Then on our way back we found a little baby frog hopping around and we picked him up and my comp. wanted a pic. so we took him back to our apartment. He was super tiny and cute. When we got in the frog jumped out of her hands into the sink and started hopping around. It was small enough to fall down the cracks in the sink but somehow was surviving. we were trying to get him out but then the next thing we knew he fell down the sink and we were SO sad! we then undid the pipes under the sink to get him out because we didnt want him to die in there. The smells were terrible but we found him again and saved him! :) I have a pic of him. Hes super cute. oh the lovely adventures of a missionary at 7 in the morning.

There are so many hispanics here. In my last area most of them thought I was hispanic. Here it is a different story. Someone here the other day asked if I was from Samoa... I guess its time to start losing weight ;) Nah he said he thought that because of my last name.

We had an awesome less active family come back to church this week and bring their cousin with them! We are looking forward to teaching them and Jose said he would be baptized when he knows its true :) great things are happening here in memphis.

Ruth didnt show up for her confirmation. We hope everything is alright with her. We are going to stop by and visit her today and ask what happened.

The hermosillo girls are so cute! They always bring friends to church and us missionaries love that! Viri braided my hair beautifully (I will send a pic) at the baptism after church that the Elders had.

We also went out with a member named Almendra this week. She is super cute! She is 19 and used to live in Utah. She knows Russel Douros. That was weird talking with her about that. 

We ate with the Garcia family this week. They are incredible. They have a 4 year old son named Angelo that got attacked by a dog when he was 2 and doesnt have any hair on his head due to the damage. he was in a coma for 3 weeks so he wouldnt have to deal with the pain. anyways they went to Utah last year to see one of the missionaries get sealed in the temple and they went to visit the statue of Christ at temple square. when they got there Angelo say the statue and told his mom "El estaba conmigo en el hospital"- "he was with me in the hospital." That touched me so much. this little boy knew and recognized Jesus Christ because he was with him strengthening him through this time in his life. It is just a testimony to me that Christ always knows what we go through and is always here to help us in our most difficult times. I love this gospel and I know that Christ suffered for each one of us. His Atonement is not only for when we sin but when we go through pains and afflictions too. I love this gospel and know it is true!

Well thats about it for the week. Love you all :) Have a good week! 

Con amor,
Hermanita Goudita

Little Baby Bike!

Ruth at the Baptism.

Mango Popsicles that Sis. Perez made for us with lime juice and hot sauce. Delicious!

My Uke!

Little Baby Frog!

Ruth Got Baptized!!!

Hey family. 

This week was really good :) So cool thing about memphis. There are fireflies everywhere! They are so cool. I feel like I am in the movie princess and the frog, missionary style. We were on bike week this week and it was super rainy, but we did see the most beautiful rainbow ever. We biked through lots of rivers but also found lots of cool new investigators! We had a family home evening with the Perez family, went to a pancake house with sis. hunt (who is the most loving, generous person I have ever met-we went to a less actives house who is struggling financially and she asked what food she needs for the week and went and bought it for her and then gave her money for gas. such a sweetheart) had our last interviews with President before he heads out in a few weeks, ate dinner at the hermosillos (they have a guitar that I got to play for a little bit and they fixed my shoe-they are pretty awesome) did ruths interview for her baptism and she fed us afterwards, had a specialized training with Elder Kapishke and Meredith where they talked a lot about vision and how we need to constantly keep our minds and hearts on the vision of helping others gain eternal life, and RUTH GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!! It was super exciting. Her son was able to skype in for it from Mexico and he also gave the talk on baptism. Sis. Smith and I sang "yo se que vive mi senor." It was a really good program and Ruth is SO happy! Ruth was so ready and prepared to be baptized. 

We also set 2 baptismal dates with Connie and Jose. the dates are a ways out but its because they have to get married first and connie needs to find out who her parents are and get her birth certificate before they can get married. So we will be praying hard for them. Other than that this week was pretty chill. Love you all and hope you are all doing great!

 

Con amor,

Hermana Goudie

Ashley. She is so super cute. She kept asking what my name was. Sister Gabby is
what she calls me. Her dad is super sick in he hospital and might need a heart
transplant. This families story is so cool. They got baptized a little over a year ago
and sealed in the temple a few months ago.

La Familia Torres :)

Ruth and Lain and us at her baptism! Love her! :)

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**