A Weekend in Chatt, and The Twins Are Getting Baptized!

Got to go to the Joseph Standing memorial which is in our area, last p-day.  It was definitely sacred, dedicated ground, so it was super cool to go there and hear the story of a dedicated servant of the Lord who sacrificed his life for missionary work!  (Editor's note:  Elder Joseph Standing was shot and killed by a hostile mob while preaching the gospel in Dalton GA in the 1800's with his companion, Elder Rudger Clawson. After his companion was shot, Elder Clawson folded his arms and said “shoot”, but the mob chose not to.  He survived his mission and became an apostle in later years.  Apparently there wasn’t a branch in that area of Georgia again until almost 100 years later, in the late 1970’s.)   

Hello Family!!

COMO ESTAN!?  I love all of your emails so much!  And I really really love yall so much!

This week has been crazy.  Crazy in a good way. 

On Friday we went up to Ooltewah which is near Chattanooga, for Zone Conference.  The things I learned will change my whole mission.

I learned that Hope is a GOAL - something we're looking towards, and that Faith is the action we take to reach that goal.  The steps to making a change/reaching a goal are:

1. See it: Recognize the issue 

2. Own it: Take Responsibility 

3. Plan it: How will you do it? 

4. Do it: Act!

So that was really awesome to learn.  After that conference, our trio exhanged with another, so Hna Button went back to Dalton with two other sisters from Ooltewah and Sister Malloy and I stayed in Ooltewah with Sister Jones.  We had some really great lessons that night and a wonderful dinner appointment. Before we were done that night, we got a text from the sisters in Dalton that night who'd had a lesson with the twins.  They said that Haley and Kaley have a date.  The twins are getting baptized this Saturday!! Sister Malloy and I were SO happy for them, and we immediately said a prayer thanking Heavenly Father.  They still have quite a bit to learn before Saturday, but we have a plan and faith that they'll be prepared!

The next day we had a bunch of plans, and they all fell through within an hour! So we saw a lady raking leaves and asked if we could help. She asked our names, but thought "Malloy" and "Collier" were too hard to pronounce, so she called us Jones, Blondie, and Smiley.  It was kind of hilarious.  We helped her rake leaves, and sung some hymns for her.  After that we found some new investigators and taught another lesson.

Saturday night was the Adult session of Chattanooga Tennessee Stake Conference.  It was so so wonderful to see so many Latter Day Saints gathered together.  The meeting was POWERFUL, on Hastening the Work.  As I sang "I Feel My Savior's Love", I felt such an outpouring of the Spirit like I never have before!  It was a feeling that made me want to act, to do and be better.  It was an extremely revelatory experience.  The next day was the general session which was also fabulous, and Jonathan and Felicia were able to come!!  We were so happy for them.  We have another lesson with them tonight.

I know that when we are close to the Spirit, we are inspired to be better.  We're inspired to be more diligent, and more Christlike.  It is something that is very difficult to always be close to the spirit but when we are it is life changing!

Thank yall for your love and support.  Y'all are INCREDIBLE and I pray for you every night!

Love, Hermana Collier

Exchange for the weekend in Ooltewah! with Sisters Malloy and Jones - I loved it!!

 Hna Button, Sis Malloy and I with Haley and Kaley a couple weeks ago at the trunk or treat.