Half Way!!!!!

In the words of Elder Hernandez and with a spanish accent: "what the crap?" where did the last 9 months go. I am already half way? How can that be? sometimes it seems like I have been out here forever but then sometimes it seems like it hasnt been long at all. mission time is so warped. but I am half way done... crazy!

this week we went on exchanges with sister smith (my last comp) and richards (the new spanish sister training leaders). It was different though because they are serving in memphis and they dont have enough miles to take one of us back to their areas so they both stayed here in the area so sis. warner and I just had 2 different schedules. it was good though. I went with sister richards who just switched to spanish 3 weeks ago so her spanish isnt too great but pretty good. samantha and denys came out with us when we were on exchanges so we went on splits for a little while. so I went with denys, samantha went with sis. richards, and kerianne went with sis. warner and smith. so that was pretty cool! 

we were on bike week this week but because we have the most amazing members we didnt even have to bike that much at all. denys came out with us for a whole day once and then 2 more days after that and sis. leal. too. they are so awesome! pretty sure we have had a dinner appt. every night I have been here except for maybe 1 or 2 nights. they are so kind. i love this ward and branch! 

funny story. while we were on bike week this week it had just rained really hard while we were in melindas and when we went to leave it was kinda just sprinkling. we had an appointment to get to so we biked in it and it was fine but the gutters of the streets were all filled up like rivers. we were on the sidewalk on the busy street and this big huge long diesel drove by right next to me hitting the water in the gutter and sure enough splashed a whole wall of water on me that went all the way up to my head and it lasted for a good 4 seconds as the length of the truck drove by going pretty slow. it was hilarious. I was laughing my head off :) it looked like I had just jumped in a pool. it felt really nice though :) 

Arissandra is still planning on getting baptized on saturday so we will see if it pulls through. she didnt show up to church yesterday though :( we went over on exchanges and she was just worried to be baptized because she didnt have the support of her family. We shared a scripture (matt. 5:14-16) with her about how she can be the example to her family and she really felt the spirit and said she was still ready and excited to be baptized. 

Met this crazy flirt this last week with sis. warner. He just wanted to get our number... one of his quotes "I already know where I am going after this life. I am going to ghetto paradise!" gotta love the crazies you meet on the mission.

So my brakes on my bike have been acting up. the elders came and fixed them though. and they taped my basket on so it wont bounce anymore. that bike is getting beat up. 

Sister warner is amazing. I love her. We have so much fun but I have never worked so hard in my mission. When we text in each night to our DL we make up poems and they are pretty hilarious might I add. I just am having a great time but seeing miracles as we are working hard. 

Love yall! 

Hermana Goudie 

Enjoying some sandilla

Samantha Smith, Sis. Warner, and I in twinner shoes. Sister Warner and
I like to share clothes.

Con la Familia Sortas!

Melinda Got Baptized!!!!!!!

Where to start? well... as you all can read from the title, melinda got baptized! It was crazy how fast it all happened! so... we went over to her house like 3 times a day every day to make all the arrangements and make sure she was all ready for her interview. we originally were going to have her interview on Wednesday and have her get baptized on Saturday but we found out that there was a wedding on Saturday at the church and they were starting to set up for it on Thursday. We didn't want to wait another week before she could get baptized so we decided to do the baptism Wednesday night after her interview. Melinda was so excited. Every time we went over there she just kept saying, "I am more excited to get baptized than I was to get married." She was so ready! 

So miracles happen. God answers prayers. Visions are real. One of the days we went over she asked us, "did I ever tell you how I decided to be baptized?" we said no. she had only told us in the hospital that she had been praying and praying and knew she was putting baptism off and that she  had decided to get baptized as soon as possible. But after asking us this question she then told us why she decided to get baptized. she said something along the lines off, "when I was in the hospital (probably when she was way out of it) Jesus Christ appeared to me and said that I need to follow my people and be baptized as soon as possible. Not saying that I am going to die soon but I knew it was urgent." sister warner and I both started to tear up. she had been praying a lot and she recieved an answer through a vision. It is so crazy how she has had a complete 180 degree change. the first day I saw her when I got here in russellville I didnt think she was going to be baptized. She was still stuck on Joseph Smith. Sister warner read me some of her journal entries of the past times she has been over there and how melinda said she didnt want to be baptized and she doesnt belive in joseph smith or prophets. It just goes to show how much this gospel can change peoples lives if they really pray with real intent and how much it can bless peoples lives. Melinda is SO happy! She is such the sweetest little old lady now and cares about everyone and says so many nice things about people and cant stop smiling! She is a completely different person. she gave up smoking and even let us take her huge can full of coffee because she says she doesnt even have the desire to drink it anymore. She says she finally found what she is looking for and has found her family. the gospel changes and blesses lives, I know that to be true. Miracles still do exist today!

So she got her interview on wednesday and was super worried about it, but she passed! after that she kept calling us like every hour because she was so nervous. the baptism came and she arrived with a huge smile on her face. we wheeled her around in the wheelchair. we didnt want her passing out or rolling her ankle from her heels. she had to get dunked twice but she didnt mind at all. she said the second time was even better! after she was baptized she said she just needed a few minutes to put her eyelashes on because she didnt want anyone seeing her with out her eyelashes (sound like anyone else???) and then it ended up taking about 20 minutes because she finished her makeup while we dryed her hair. she looked so beautiful though :) 

And happy late 4th of July to everyone! We celebrated in style over here in Russellville. We had a breakfast with the English ward first and then we went to Melindas for a bit and then drove to Conway. We had a zone conference where we got to meet our new mission president from Fiji! His name is Pres. Wakolo and he is awesome. His son glen (17) and daughter jasmine (11) and wife of course are here with them. he has a pretty cool accent and sounds like Mufasa. His testimony is amazing and they raised 18 children (they arent theirs though) and converted all of them to the gospel. I am so excited to get to know him better. after the meeting we headed back to russellville and ate at a taco stand and taught the owner, went back to melindas and had some pizza that she ordered for us, and then went to old post park and met up with the smith family and their cousins who arent members. we were able to talk to them a bit. we then watched fireworks with them! It was such a great day! 

Saturday we had noche de deportes con la rama espanol. we played voleibol. and on sunday melinda got the holy ghost and was confirmed a member of the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints!!!!!!!!!! she told us she hopes everyone some day can take their blinders off like she did and join the church. I love her so much! and my companion for never giving up on her. Melinda loves her a lot for always sticking by her side and helping her get through this roller coaster. I really believe that melinda was someone that sister warner came here for. it was just such a blessing to be here when it all finally happened.

Love yall! 

con amor, 

Hermana Goudita

Melinda at her baptism!!!! Look how happy she is!

Melinda after the baptism with the Spanish Missionaries.

At the breakfast with the Smiths on the 4th
 

Samantha Smith. Love her so much! She is starting to teach voice lessons
and does musicals.

Happy 4th from ARKANSAS!

This is President Wakolos daughter Jasmine. She is 11. It is so fun to
have them here!

At the park before fireworks! Teaching Sis. Warner hot to play the uke.

What happens when missionaries get a hold of coffee.

Melinda after she recieved the Holy Ghost! :)

Some cool thing. Not really sure what it is...

Had to get one with the Arkansas Hog!

Week of Miracles!!

This week was full of miracles!!!!!! and also some really tough lessons. But sister warner and I got through them and the week ended so well! it started off with sis. hernandez taking us to chick fil a :) she was down here for work and called and took us out to dinner. It was so nice of her!

We had some interesting lessons with Jere this week. She is one of our investigators that got sent from the sisters in Conway. She is super elect she just doesnt know it. She has been to church 4 or 5 times now she just needs to make the decision. the last time we visited her we took sister hardway and they talked a lot about getting remarried and then afterwards she told us that she just kinda wants to take it slow for now. 

Sister washburn took us to the hospital for lunch and she is really cool. she did suzuki piano and also went on a mission to the philippines. she plays the organ and told me she wants to teach me. 

We had a lesson with some luz del mundo people which I believe is a church that formed from a missionary who served in mexico and then came home, got excommunicated, and branched off and formed his own church. so they believe a lot of things that we do. but the lesson was really long and they pretty much told us that we dont baptize right and that no where in the bible says to baptize in the name of the father, son, and holy ghost besides matt. 28:19. They werent making sense. But he told us he would read the book of mormon and if he finds anything that doesnt match up with the bible that he would give us a call and expect an explanation. but sis. warner and I just testified that what we know is true and it was really cool to be able to understand every thing that he was sharing and asking and to have the spirit with us to remember where scriptures are to share with him and that it was with us to bring power to what we were saying. it was a hard lesson though and he told us that we need to investigate the book of mormon more and our religion because it doesnt make sense and that it is not true. they invited us to come to their church. we stayed strong though and our testimonies were strengthened from this experience.

besides that and a few other miracles we saw this week, there was one huge miracle! Melinda, who is 64 has been taught by sis. warner since january. she has had a few baptismal dates in the past but they have fallen through. she used to smoke a lot, but gave that up in february. she is on oxygen and the doctors told her she would be for the rest of her life. she is home alone all day and doesnt have family here. one of the first days I got her we went and visited her and she didnt want to set a date to be baptized because she told us she is not physically able to be baptized with her health right now. so we were going to put her on hold for awhile. we went to visit at the beginning of this last week and she didnt answer the door or her phone. there was also a meals on wheels card stuck in her door with the date that they came by which was the day before. we were a little worried. we went back the next day and the card was still in the door. so we had the feeling to check the hospital. sure enough. she was there. we went in and she was hallucinating like crazy. she was way out of it. the doctors said she had been going on like that for 2 days and that this was the best she had been. she kinda recognized sis. warner but only for a few seconds. so we were super scared and sis. warner had a hard time with it. she loves her a lot and is really close with her. we went back the next day and she was completely normal. she told us that she had been praying a lot and that she wanted to be baptized this week. we could not believe it! she said that she had asked her doctors the day before (which couldnt have been possible because she was out of it the day before) and they said it would not be a problem for her to be baptized. so something happened while she was out of it and she knew she needed to be baptized. she told us that she had been putting it off and procrastinating and she knew it was what she needed to do. so we set the date for sat. but now we might do it this thursday instead. we went back the next day and she was off oxygen. she started crying and told us that ever since she decided to be baptized that every thing is falling into place and that the Lord has been blessing her. It just reminded me of the scripture Ether 12:6. she is so excited and so ready to be baptized. She even started talking to her hispanic roomates about the book of mormon and told us that she was testifying of it to them. and another miracle, they happened to be lost investigators of the spanish elders. one time we went in and about 10 minutes later the elders walked in to give this hispanic lady a blessing. when we decide to be  humble and do what we know we need to do to keep the commandments, God will immediately bless us (Mosiah 2:24). 

The rest of this week was good. We went and hiked Mount Nebo today with the elders. It was fun :) Sis. warner and I also taught the most lessons we had both taught on our missions so far in a week. It was a good week! 

Love yall! 

Hermana Goudita

Gotta love church signs in the South. ;)

Language study with the Elders (definitely helps to have a native).

Sis. Loftin gave us all of this food from her house when we went to
visit ;) she is so nice!

Mary and Joe Dickerson. Love them!

Sis. Warner and I had a sleepover downstairs in our apartment just for the fun of it!

Sis. Warner and I at Mount Nebo today!

Us at Mount Nebo.

Sis. Warner and I jumping at Mount Nebo

At the Waterfall.

RUSSELLVILLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bueno bueno!!!!!!!!!!! Como estan? I am in russellville arkansas! I came back over on the other side again :) I am loving it SO much! It has been such a good 5 days and this transfer is going to be awesome! 

So last week I did some packing up and then went to transfers on wednesday afternoon. I found out that I was headed to the other side so we hopped on the van after getting all our stuff in the back and started our 3 hour journey back to arkansas. I was in the van with sis. johnson who is now in North Little Rock where I was, elder dyorich who is now in conway, elder davis who is in monticello, and elder udall was driving. there were a few other missionaries to in the van. I had my uke and we played some songs on the way over. When we got over here, I saw sister warner and we had pretty much figured out that I was going to be with her. She was sis. petersons last companion and has been in russellville since november (this is only her second area and she has almost been out a year. crazy huh? I ran up and gave her a big hug and I knew that it was going to be a great transfer :) So pretty much all day wednesday we drove because then after transfers we had to drive all the way her to russellville (it is at the edge of the mission). The next day we did service for a member. we helped her empty a water bed ;) it was a bit nasty. but fun and the elders were there with us to help. The members here are all amazing! and love to feed us :)

So there are no english sisters up here so we teach both english and spanish. We go to both the english ward and spanish branch on sundays. So we get fed a lot because we work in both. and sister warner is loved here :) I dont know who couldnt love sister warner. Shes so cute. Sis. warner was in a zebra for the last 3 transfers (zebra means she had an english companion) and so she wasnt speaking much spanish. There are english elders up here and spanish elders up here just fyi. so we have been finding a lot of hispanics and teaching a lot of spanish. we found 14 new hispanic investigators this week. the Lord is blessing us. We are both really dedicated to increasing our spanish abilities this transfer so we have been speaking a lot of spanish with eachother, more than I have with any other companion. It is helping a lot. And pray works too let me just tell ya :) I have always prayed to be able to speak spanish but I have never put forth as much effort as I have this transfer. So prayer and effort put together is the best way to get answers to your prayers that is for sure! 

We did a Goodwill drop by too to talk to hispanics. We helped move someone out on thursday o algo asi. that was a lot of work. I also dont think I have ever held as many animals as I have this week. I held a brand new puppy (which pooped on me I might add ;)), a baby kitty, a turtle, and a teacup pig. I have a pic of it, it is super cute. 

On sunday I gave a talk in the spanish branch. It was really neat to see that I could write a talk without any help and without a dictionary in a fairly short amount of time. I had elder hernandez (native spanish speaker) correct it for me and there were only a few little errors. It made me happy and made me realize that God is blessing me and helping me learn spanish. My talk was only about 10 minutes though... there were a lot of people out of town in the branch. I wasnt even that scared to give it. I also played the piano in sacrament. 

well thats about it for this week. I love this gospel. I love the people here. I am excited to serve here and find those people here who are ready to accept this message. Love yall! 

Hermana Goudita

Jerry's snow shack in Memphis

Saying goodbye to the Torres Familia.

Lain!!!! I will miss this kid.

Some of my bestest friends! Sis. Peterson, Elder Ludwig, and Elder Jardine at transfers!

Transfer Van!

Sister Dube! She came out with me and is in Little Rock now! We went
to dinner with her and Sis. Johnson after transfers.

Emptying the water bed.

Elder Schoenfeld! After service.

Saying goodbye to Sister Hunt!

Teacup Pig!

Sidney Stokes is super cute! Her family fed us last night. She made this delicious
4th of July cake for us!

Me and my companion were twinners yesterday. We didn't plan it. Nos Igualamos!

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. :)