"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**

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.