March 24, 2014 -- Kickin It! . . .

Don't you just love the south!?

Hola Familia!!

You guys all sound great! Happy Birthday CALEB! THE BIG 16!! :)

So Entonces.  Found out on Saturday that hardly anything is changing at all in our district! Except our District Leader is changing and Elder Miller is leaving.  They'll bring my violin down for me when they go to transfers this week! :)  I am content, because although a change would be fun (I've never been out of Dalton), I love the people, the missionaries, and the ward, and know there's more to be done.  I'm committed to working harder while we still here, because I know I'm here for purposes that the Lord knows and I still don't and the only way I can figure those out is by acting.   I really am going to put 100% into the work this transfer and not look back!

Last P-day, we went bowling. . . .

 

The first game I bowled like a 90 - pretty amazing for me, but 2nd game I won't even talk about. Hermana Winters was incredible.

The other sisters accidentally damaged the car a while back, and tomorrow it will go into the shop for the rest of the month, so we had pretty much unlimited miles this week!  We decided to use this to our advantage to really strengthen the members and less actives.  We were able to have some amazing experiences, including some visiting teaching where a sister in our ward described her struggles trying to care for her wayward younger sister and was brought to tears as we talked to her.  On Saturday, we went out to Chatsworth where some less actives live.  The drive was gorgeous, with cherry blossom trees everywhere, white picket fences, long green fields, and antique barns and homes.  We both said, "This is how I pictured the South."  Anyway, we got out there and got to visit a sister who's married to a Hispanic and hasn't been able to come to church recently.  We had a great lesson with her.  Then we saw a sweet Hispanic family, the Lopez's. They have two great teenage daughters who told us of their desires to serve missions one day.  We invited all of them to the general women's meeting on Saturday so I really hope some of them come! (I am super excited for that by the way :)

Maria Masias's kids - they are crazy! But cute!

We also taught Anna, she is a woman who lives in our apartment complex, we've had a couple lessons with but she was super committed to her Baptist faith.  We decided to drop in on her, and she'd been reading El Libro de Mormon and really liked it!  She said that she is going to pray to know if these things are true, and if she receives an answer that she'll agree to be baptized. So we're excited to keep working with her!  Omar is another new investigator, he's 21, who we met a while ago, and his brother just died so we were able to teach the Restoration with a focus on the families, and he said that he'd like to get baptized.  Espero que he's not just flirting with us ._.

Por fin, we had the oppurtunity to teach Oliver and his sweet family.  He's one of the guys my last companion and I found playing guitar and singing months ago.  They're the most devoted Catholics I have ever seen! And SO open and loving.  They are a young family, who are always doing things for their church and teach their children the gospel every day.  We had a lesson on the Restoration with them, and they were just so grateful that we came and shared, and they just wanted us to come to their church so bad, so we made a deal that if we go to their church on Friday that they'll come to ours next week.  I want so bad for the truthfulness of this message to be let into their hearts one day. 

Scripture of the week D&C 82:10 - El senor esta obligado a bendecirnos cuando somos obedientes. I know this is true!

LOVE YOU ALL! Thanks for EVERYTHING you do. I am praying for y'all!

Sincerely, Hermana Madeleine Collier

The treeess!!! sooo bonita!