Oh my goodness we have the coolest members! We were tracting and knocked into an active member (it happens more than you'd expect). She invited us in and immediately told us she had a friend she wanted us to meet. Without us asking her if she knew anyone we could teach. Then she offered to go with us to meet her, so she could introduce us. Her friend's daughter had been to activity days and then left her coat with our member. So we had a perfect reason to show up unexpectedly :) The friend was in the middle of working on dinner, so we didn't get to talk to her much, but she has met us and now it won't be so weird when we knock on her door. Members are the best! This work could not succeed without members.
Tuesday:
Miracle #1: Miles. We were tracting and Sister Wall thought a particular street looked familiar. Her and her last companion had been trying to teach this one lady, but she was always sick or busy so they hadn't seen her in a while. The street she lived on is new enough that it didn't show up on Sister Wall's GPS so she couldn't ever find that street again. So anyway, when we were tracting today we ended up finding the road this lady lived on. We knocked a few houses, but no one was home so we decided to try the house where this lady had lived. There was a man blowing leaves outside so we stopped to talk to him before knocking on the door. Well, he is pretty much Mormon. He has lived by Mormons for years and years and loves them all. Someone gave him a set of scriptures for Christmas and he actually reads them every now and then. Enough at least that when he heard Elder Jeffrey R. Holland quote D&C 4 he recognized the reference and was able to find it. Miles told us that he loves Elder Holland and his talks . He watches Mormon Messages and mormonchannel. Miles thinks it's weird that there are lifelong members who don't know about those sites. (What. Who is this man??) As we talked I felt prompted to ask him if he had ever thought about becoming a Mormon since he knows so much. He said "I have, multiple times. I've just got some inertia to deal with at home", saying his wife has been the holdup for a while. BUT his wife is the lady that Sister Wall had taught for a little bit but couldn't ever find again!! Sister Wall has been trying to find that lady but never could and never really knew why she felt like she needed to find her again. THIS IS WHY! Miles is so prepared and his wife has already accepted the missionaries once before, so this might be the time that she is fully ready.
Miracle #2: Tyler. While we were tracting (notice a pattern yet?), we get a call from a 425 number which was confusing but also exciting (for those of you who don't know, 425 is the area code just north of Seattle, so I knew it was a Washington number). We answer and he introduces himself and says he is moving to NC next week (so this week now) and wanted to know what time church was. We asked him what ward he would be in, since we cover two wards. He sounded a little confused but told us he had looked online and he thought he would be in Swift Creek. At this point we realized he might not be a member like we originally thought. He isn't. He just wants to learn more about the church and come to church when he gets here, no big deal or anything. We told him what time church was and that we would be more than happy to talk to him when he gets to NC. He had no problem with that, he just wondered if he could learn more before he gets here. So we sent him to mormon.org to talk to the missionaries online. Obviously this is Heavenly Father's work! How else would someone call us, asking to learn more about the gospel?
Wednesday:
Exchanges with Sister Grimsman!! She is just an amazing missionary!! I feel like I always learn more from those I am supposed to be leading than they learn from me. Being a sister training leader pretty much just means that I get to go on exchanges with these incredible sisters and realize how much more I can improve :) I love it!!
Thursday:
We found 2 new investigators. Both before noon, which was awesome but it also meant we spent the rest of the day tracting with no success. BUT that's totally fine because it was what Sister Grimsman needed. With the recent schedule change, President has told us that he wants all missionaries out working from 10-12. Sister Grimsman said they haven't ever found anyone before 12 in their area, so I think Heavenly Father made it work out so that they only people we found today were between 10-12. It is amazing how He makes everything work perfectly and for our growth.
Friday:
We had an awesome lesson with Barbara! She has been listening to the Book of Mormon consistently and loves it! She told us that when she is stressed/can't sleep/worried, she listens to it and she feels more peace. She is already more than halfway through Mosiah!! She also doesn't have to work this weekend and told us (uninvited) that she was planning to come to church!
We also found a new investigator, Rachel, the one with the bunny :) We had met her briefly before, but she was leaving for an interview the first time and had the flu the next time. Tonight she was 100% better and invited us in out of the cold (I feel like I get in more doors when it's cold than when it's hot. Maybe winter is better....) and started talking to us. She and her fiance and mother are currently looking for a church. Rachel was the only one we really talked to, her fiance wasn't home and her mom had a work call most of the time, but both she and her mom seemed really interested.
Saturday:
Some nice lady gave us water bottles and a granola bar while we were tracting!! I love the South so much! <3
Okay, not a tender mercy. If you only read my emails for the exclusively awesome stuff, pause right now and start reading again after the squiggles.
We went to go see Tanisha to remind her about church and make sure she was coming. She hasn't been able to come at all the whole time I have been here. The first Sunday was the only one where she wasn't working or sick and that of course was the Sunday that it snowed and church was cancelled. Every Sunday after that she has either been sick or working. She was finally better and had this weekend off so we were excited to finally have her come to church again!! Well, when we stop by tonight, she tells us she has something to tell us. (Uh oh, this is either really good or really bad.) Turns out the pastor at her old church is coming down here and starting another church, so she wants to go back there. "nothing against y'all, this is just like going back home" She is still planning to come to church with us tomorrow and she has actually been reading the Book of Mormon. And believes it is true. But she wants to go back to her old church.......
Of course, it snowed again the Sunday Tanisha was going to come to church. We went early to help her get the kids ready (like we told her we would) and she decided she didn't want to drive in the snow. So she didn't come to church and she isn't going to get baptized in April. 
On the bright side, now we can find and teach those that are actually prepared right now.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sunday:
Barbara came to church!!! We were a little worried when she asked us about the snow. We told her that the roads were totally clear (because they were) and that it was fine to drive. Her car was covered in frost and she didn't want to be late, so she got an Uber. We'll work on all the aspects of keeping the Sabbath day holy this week, but I am so grateful that she was committed enough to coming to church that she didn't let the snow stop her 
We were tracting when a family in our ward drove past and said hi. They came back a couple minutes later and asked if we had a dinner. We actually didn't so they invited us over. That was the best! I love when people randomly decide to feed us :)
Okay, Sister Wall is just the best! We were tracting before we headed in to get ready for accounting and we decided to finish one side of the building before we went home. We finished the whole side and hadn't found anyone. It was the time we had decided to head home, but Sister Wall felt like we needed to knock at least the first floor on the other side, feeling like there was someone there we were supposed to meet. So we go knock the other side and decide to only knock the ones with lights on. Well, the first door we knock on on that side became a new investigator! I am so grateful that Sister Wall was so receptive to a prompting and followed it, even though it would have been just as easy to go home.
{Random side note: don't ask missionaries how long they have until they go home. We hate that question. Asking how long a missionary has been out is better, that way we can pretend we don't go home so soon :) If people ask how long I've been out, it is much easier to say 'just over a year' than have people ask how long until I go home and have to figure out how to avoid the topic. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate thinking about going home. There are lots of things I am excited for (like seeing my family again) but I don't want to think about that now. I still have a long time before I will go home and I want to focus on what I have been called to do. Right now, my world is here in Holly Springs. Home, school, work and family are kind of abstract and that's good. It helps me remember what is truly important right now.}
Some funny excuses people gave as to why they couldn't talk to us
-just brought dinner home
-Duke/UNC game is on
-on a conference call (while wrapped in a sheet)
-Trump
-"not home"
Love y'all
Sister Pyper
Sister Grimsman
Exchanges!!!
Tanisha and the kids <3
1) Tanisha and some of her kids. Jassiah took the picture, which is why she ins't in it.
2) Us with Jassiah. The faces are because it might be the last time we see them.
3) Me and Jassiah :)
4) Selfie with the kids. With Tanisha jumping in in the back :)
"It's just fluffy rain"
We woke up to snow on Sunday morning.....
.......And clear skies and no snow less than 9 hours later
Yes, these are taken on the same day. The snow was melting as soon as it hit the ground, so I said it was fluffy rain.
Piggly Wiggly
I am still too far north to find an actual Piggly Wiggly, but I did find a shirt at Goodwill. This might be the closest I get to a Piggly Wiggly, so I figured this was good enough.
BUNNY!!
One of our new investigators has a bunny. That's all.
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