I'm staying in Holly Springs!

[Teresa's note: This will be the last blog post at this site. We are moving her blog to http://www.mymission.com/laurenpyper.]

First, transfer news! I am staying, Sister Wall is getting transferred. She is heading to Raleigh to train!

Oh my goodness, what a wonderful week filled with lots of inspiration and revelation! We had a member of the Seventy come tour our mission. We had a zone conference with him on Wednesdayand then MLC (mission leadership council) with him on Thursday. Plus the Woman's Broadcast on Saturday. I learned so much and had questions answered that I didn't realize I was asking. It was the best!!

Monday: We found a new investigator. At the last door we had time for, of course. We actually didn't even knock on his door. He was walking down his driveway to check the mail and we started talking to him. He dated an LDS girl in high school and has questions. 

Tuesday: I got to go on exchange with Sister Ruske!! It was awesome! It was kindof surreal, because it felt like we were back in D2 but not. It was so sweet to see how much she had grown in the past transfer and also see how she is still the same sweet, bubbly, adventurous sister I got to train <3 {She is staying in the zone, so I will get to go on exchange with her again soon!} We met this super sweet lady who let us come in out of the (unexpected) heat and gave us both two water bottles and offered us snacks. Oh how I love the South! Then that night when we had a lesson with a couple they are teaching, they gave us water and cheesecake. I think Southern hospitality should exist everywhere. 

Wednesday: ZONE CONFERENCE!! It was the best! Elder Hamula of the Seventy came with his wife. We had been asked to come with questions that we were seeking answers for, in preparation for receiving revelation. I had been struggling to come up with questions, there didn't seem to really be anything I needed. So I didn't have any specific questions in mind, but I came away from zone conference with answers to questions I didn't know I had. Elder Hamula talked about faith and how to increase our faith. Heavenly Father knew what I needed long before I did and He communicated those things to me through zone conference. Things I had had a question about months ago, things I needed to work on, ways to improve, and the motivation I needed all came as I listened to Elder Hamula instruct us. I am so incredibly grateful for the gift of the Holy Ghost that allows me to hear exactly what I needed, when I didn't even realize it was what I needed. It was also interesting to talk to Sister Wall on the way home, we both got completely different things out of what Elder Hamula said. 

Sister Wall was also prompted to stop by a semi-active teenage girl in our ward. It was exactly what she needed that day. There was a funeral for someone she looked up to the next day and she was having a hard night. We were able to share our love for her and help her to feel the Spirit. 

Thursday: MLC with Elder Hamula! We discussed things we had learned from zone conference and how we were going to apply it. I had a really neat experience as I reviewed my notes. I had learned a lot of thigns at zone conference and I was trying to figure out a way to summarize them all. As I looked over my notes and pondered what I had learned, I had the thought "be present" come to my mind. Those two words summarized all the things I had learned from zone conference and felt prompted to change. It is amazing that I can receive inspiration and insight just from reviewing notes I took when I was receiving inspiration. It is something I don't do as often as I should , but I will definitely be doing it more often from now on. 

I got to see a couple people from my first ward! They were randomly at the stake center where MLC was and I got to see them! Complete with the cheesy 'running across the parking lot to hug each other' that I only thought happened in movies. 

The neighbor of a member is apparently interested in learning more! The member had told us about her neighbor about a month or so ago but we were never able to see her until last week. We stopped by on exchange and introduces ourselves. She wasn't interested, but was very nice. So then today, the member texts us and says her neighbor (the same one I met last week) was asking her about the church and said she wants to know more! Our member told her friend that we teach people more about what we believe and asked if she would be interested in meeting us. Her neighbor said yes, so we are having lunch with them this coming week! Heavenly Father definitely prepares people in His own timing. I am so grateful I get to be a part of it!

We had Bishop and his wife come out with us. We had originally wanted them to come see Adam with us, but Adam had to work late so we had to last-minute figure out who to go see. Sister Wall and I felt like we should go see an investigator that we haven't been able to see in over a month. Sam, the man we went to go see, was actually home!! He has been reading occasionally in the Book of Mormon and was so excited to see us! He told us his mom had died three weeks ago and we were able to testify of the Plan of Salvation. We gave him a couple chapters in the Book of Mormon to read and set up to come back the next evening. 

Friday: Thanks to Elder Hamula, we had an incredible lesson with Barbara! Elder Hamula had talked about asking inspired questions and being open to the promptings of the Spirit when listening to discern the concerns investigators have. Sister Wall and I wanted to know what was keeping Barbara from feeling comfortable setting a date to be baptized. We asked questions and listened to the Spirit and we were able to figure out most of her true concerns. 

Awesome lesson with Sam! We had another member come with us and it all lined up perfectly! Sam had texted us saying he was busy, to not come, but we didn't see it until we pulled up in his driveway. He told us that he had been working on a shed in his backyard but "the Holy Spirit told me to get down off the roof and wait for those girls. They might be coming anyway" and we did!! Sam had actually read some of the chapters we had given him and he loved them! 

Saturday: Woman's Conference! Similar to zone conference, I didn't have a specific question in mind, but I got answers to questions I didn't know I was asking. President Eyring's talk was exactly what I needed to hear. It was kind of strange, but in a wonderful way. He said something at the beginning of his talk that caught my attention and I was pondering it. I could hear President Eyring continue to speak, but I wasn't really hearing what he said. I was hearing what I personally needed to hear, directly from the Spirit. 

And Barbara came to the broadcast!

We got transfer news. See above in case you forgot what the news was. 

Sunday:

Barbara came to church! 

After visiting our recent convert Zac and his family, Sister Wall felt prompted to turn the car around and knock 5 doors on this one street. So we did and the last door we knock is a kid named Cody. He told us he was supposed to be at a hockey game, but had slept through his alarm and missed the game. Well, clearly he wasn't supposed to be at his hockey game :)

I'm excited to stay here in Holly Springs! 

Love y'all

Sister Pyper

Transfers!!!!

​We took this picture last week at the NC history museum to capture how we felt about transfers coming up. It pretty accurately depicts how we are feeling right now. Although I look a lot more worried in the picture than I actually feel. 

Together Again! If only for a day

Zone Conference

​All of my past companions except for one were at the multi-zone conference so I got to see them all again! They're all so cute<3

What Pollen Does

​I went outside to get something from the storage space on our deck, and this is what happened. Everything is covered in pollen. All the time. The black carpet on our deck is now yellow-green, just like everything else. Thank goodness I don't have allergies! 

Shorter email, awesome week

Okay, this email might not be as long or as detailed as other ones. Sorry. Ethan leaves for the MTC today so I had to make sure I got in some last pictures (and proxy hugs) before my family heads out, and now I'm running low on time. Just know it was an amazing week and I am grateful to be here. 

Transfers are next week, no guarantees of what will happen, but we are thinking that Sister Wall will leave and I will stay. But if any of y'all randomly decide to write me, just send it to 5060 Six Forks Rd, Raleigh NC 27609 just in case. 

Monday:

Zone activity at the NC history museum. There was so much cool stuff! And we got to see President and Sister James, which is always fun!

Tuesday:

Did service for an investigator, we are helping him remodel his basement. 

Did a bunch of stop-bys when Jody was sick for our appointment.

I was getting sick so we went to bed early. 

Wednesday:

Exchanges with the Garner sisters. 

While tracting, this man told us he was busy right then but asked if we could come back in an hour. Of course we can!! (Then of course he wasn't home when we went back.....)
It was freezing today and we were so cold when we were tracting. Both Sister Tagge and I wanted soup/chili for dinner because we were so cold. So we show up to dinner and we were having......taco soup!! 

Thursday:

Interviews with President!! I love getting to see President and hearing his counsel and guidance. 

Adam. We were tracting and I was not too excited to be there, I was still a little sick and mostly just wanted to rest. But that's not really an option too often as a missionary. And if we hadn't been knocking, we wouldn't have met Adam, and he is so great! He has met missionaries a few years ago and doesn't really go to a church right now. We had a really good doorstep lesson and he said he would probably be able to come to church on Sunday! We gave him a pamphlet to read and pray about. Saturday night we get a text from him saying he had read the pamphlet. AND started working on the additional study questions in the back. No one every does those. Ever. Except for Adam. He wasn't able to come to church, but had really great questions about the priesthood and told us he believes "that there was definitely a long disconnect from true gospel". HOW COOL IS THAT?!?!

Friday:

We actually got the cops called on us. At 4 in the afternoon. In townhouses. Yep, that's a real thing that actually happened. I still think it is completely ridiculous. We hadn't been to this place in almost a month and felt like we should go back to try the people that didn't answer the first time. We had some good contacts, but didn't find anyone interested. After we had tried all the people that didn't answer, we headed back to the car to go somewhere else. We are almost back to the car when a police car pulls in and parks. We both kept walking because we weren't doing anything illegal and we were leaving anyway. Then of course they get out and ask to talk to us. When we turn around and they see our nametags, they get this look of understanding. The one who was talking to us said that they had gotten a complaint that some people were going door to door 'selling things'. Before we even got a chance to tell them that we weren't selling anything, the female cop tells us she knows that we are just there to try to talk to people, that she has had missionaries knock on her door before. Of course, they couldn't legally do anything to make us leave; we weren't soliciting, there were no 'no trespassing' signs, and it was 4:30 in the afternoon. All they could do was tell us someone had complained and suggest that we go somewhere else, or head in for the day. We were already planning to leave, but it was still hilarious that someone was so worried about two twenty year old girls in skirts that they called the police on us. 

Saturday:

OH MY GOODNESS what an incredible day! Not only did we find 5 new investigators (our goal for the day was 3), but we were totally led to where Heavenly Father needed us to be. After following Sister Wall's prompting to knock this one street (where we found 2 new investigators), we still had an hour before we had to be in. We didn't feel like we should finish knocking the street, that there was somewhere else we should be. We remembered that during companion study we had read in Preach MY Gospel that we should use our area book to find more people. We felt like that was what we should do, but wanted to do it out in public rather than our apartment. So we prayed about where we should be and both felt good about going to the Subway right up the street. So we run home to grab our area book and head to Subway. The Subway is connected to a gas station and when we pull up Sister Wall recognizes the woman standing at the pump. She apparently felt very strongly that she needed to get out and talk to them RIGHT NOW because she parked and ran over, leaving the car door open. So I follow her and realize that the woman is someone that the sisters used to be teaching. We ask her how she's doing and she tells us that she needs prayers. Her mom was in the hospital and Darla (the woman Sister Wall recognized) had been having a really hard time. We were able to pray with her and tell her that Heaven;y Father was aware of every detail of her life. We were definitely meant to be there at that exact time. If we had stopped to check the mail like we thought to, or had knocked one more door on the street, or gone to the library, we would have missed seeing Darla. God is truly in the details!!

Sunday:

We didn't have a member feed us dinner. Today, that was actually a really good thing. We are trying to save miles since we are going to Raleigh twice this week, plus driving to Garner every week and also having to go all the way to Knightdale this week too, and it worked out perfectly for us to eat at our apartment. 

Found two new investigators that are awesome! 

Love y'all

Sister Pyper

Hello!

Our zone went to the NC history museum last Monday. I took about a million pictures, but this one is one of my favorites.

Sunday selfie

Before tracting in the rain

After tracting in the rain

​The funniest thing is that our hair switched. Sister Wall's hair was curled before the rain and it got straight. Mine was mostly straight and ended up curlier :)

Finally!

I have been asking this question for more than a year now!!!

My favorite part of the NC history museum :)

Old flags

Sister Uchytil and I wanted pictures with the old NC flags. Also, in case you can't see it, we are holding a restoration pamphlet :)

Oh this made me so happy! I love Durham!

Look Mom, I joined the war!

Aren't we cute?

Cutest zone ever

We had the elders take a picture of the sisters in the zone. None of them coordinated who was taking a picture when, so this was the result. And yes, that is Sister Ruske! I think I mentioned that she was in my zone, but it is awesome to get to see her all the time!!

A better week

Monday:

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.

Well, it's been a week

I can't really say much else beyond the title. This week has been all things. Hilarious, stressful, exhausting, rewarding, confusing, enlightening and just flat out ridiculous. 

Monday:

On exchanges with the Garner sisters. We went to Cookout and Bojangles to introduce Sister Jensen. She was not a fan of Boberry biscuits. Every single one of our appointments after dinner fell through, so we went tracting. Sister Tagge and I made a new cat friend. 

Tuesday:

Nothing too exciting. Zone council and lots of tracting. The Garner sisters went back to Garner (they had been staying with us since Saturday). 

Wednesday:

The beginning of the insanity. President called us at 7 am and said that he still wanted the Garner sister to stay with us. Sister Jensen had really been struggling and wanting to go home. They had been staying with us so that we could be around her and do all we could to keep her out here. Apparently we weren't supposed to let them go back to Garner, so we called them back and let them know to come back with us after district meeting. Sister Jensen came with me and Sister Wall went with Sister Tagge. Around 4 we got a call from President saying Sister Jensen would be flying home tomorrow and they would pick her up from our apartment at 6 am. So that meant we had to get all of her stuff to our apartment tonight and figure out what we were going to do until Sister Tagge's new companion arrives tomorrow. 

Funny story from today: Casey. We have taught Casey once before and had an appointment for today. We show up for our appointment and her son tells us she is putting the baby down for a nap. So we go knock a few doors and come back. Still trying to put the baby down. Okay, we'll go contact some referrals in the area and do some more tracting. 20 minutes later we go back to Casey's and her husband answered this time. Apparently Casey had fallen asleep with the baby and was totally out

Thursday: I'm pretty sure that today was the longest day of my life. Looking back at all the things that happened today, I honestly can't wrap my brain around the fact that they all happened in a 24 hour span.

We woke up at 6 to say goodbye to Sister Jensen, but then we got to go back to sleep for about 20 minutes. Sister Tagge of course couldn't be by herself so we were in a trio for most of the day. There was a trio down in Shallotte that President split up, one of them will be coming up here. After studies (which were a complete mess, we were all so exhausted that none of us could focus on anything) we drove up to Garner to get the oil changed in the Garner sisters car. (Except we went to the wrong place first) While we waited for that we sat in Wendy's to do our weekly planning. After about an hour, the car was done so we went back to get the car and then went back to Wendy's to get lunch. We just went through the drive through, rather than awkwardly go back in after sitting there for an hour. They forgot Sister Wall's fries, and we didn't realize it until about a mile later. We thought this was absolutely hilarious and were all laughing so hard we cried. Sister Wall said "NO FRIES?!?! this day can't get any worse".......bad choice. It got worse. 

After a last minute turn to get Sister Wall her fries, we go to the Garner apartment to eat, finish weekly planning,  do companion study, and wait for Sister Tagge's new companion. Then we had a member of our ward come pick us up because we had driven the Garner car and ours was still in Holly Springs. Luckily our appointment was in our apartment complex, because Sister Wall's wallet was still in the Garner car. Which meant we couldn't drive anywhere. Yep, she jinxed it when she said the day couldn't get any worse . It all worked out though, our dinner came to pick us up and then she took us to the Relief Society activity after dinner. We had been asked to talk for a couple minutes at the activity, so we had to go.  

We had a really neat experience of being led to someone today. We had about 30 minutes to tract after our dinner appointment and we prayed to find a new investigator . After about 20 minutes we hadn't met anyone interested, so we prayed again to be led to the person that Heavenly Father wanted us to meet. I felt drawn to this one specific house, so we skipped the next 4 houses to knock on this one. A man opens the door and we start introducing ourselves. He interrupts us and tells us he is Mormon but they haven't gone in about a year. We later found out from our bishop that they just had their names removed a couple months ago. The husband was friendly and seemed open to us coming back, he was just concerned about his wife. She is the one that has the most hard feelings to the church, but the husband seemed willing to have us come back in a few weeks. Even though he didn't become a new investigator, I have no doubt that we were supposed to meet him. I know that Heavenly Father is aware of all of His children, especially those that have strayed and are in need of a reminder of His love and awareness. 

Then we go to the Relief Society activity, which is where I met Mary Poppins. It was the RS birthday party and they were talking about all the different bags women have and what they mean to us. There was a diaper bag, a scripture case (us), a backpack, a handmade crochet bag, etc. Mary Poppins pulled them all out of her magic carpetbag and then the person whose bag it was talked about what it meant to them. The Garner sisters drove down to bring Sister Wall her wallet. So at least the day ended really well, but man, was it an exhausting day!

Friday:

I love when my first impressions get proved wrong! We were tracting and the man pulls into his driveway (#awkward). We introduce ourselves and ask him if he has a faith in Jesus Christ. He is still in his car at this point and tells us he does and that he has a story. Confession, I totally expected this man to start telling us all the reasons we are wrong and why nothing we believe is true. Nope! He was actually super sincere and really nice! He told us all about how much he loves King Benjamin (yep, the King Benjamin from the Book of Mormon) and how a lot of our society's problems would be solved if we just did what King Benjamin did. Ummmm, what? That is not at all what I expected but I am so grateful I didn't immediately leave. Clearly I need to work on having charity for people and not judging them. He is so cool! He has had a rough couple years, but he still maintains his faith. He has a lot of similar beliefs and values. 

Saturday:

Another day of sitting in a fast food place for over an hour. This time it was because we were getting our own oil changed. So we took the downtime to plan for our instruction coming up. Being a sister training leader just means I go on lots of exchanges and am always planning for an instruction. Meetings, exchanges, and instructing at meetings. That's my life now. 

Oh yeah, we also got the cops called on us tonight. 

Sunday:

Church. No one came 

BUT we found 3 new investigators who are all awesome and really excited about meeting with us! 2 of them have met with missionaries before and still have a copy of the Book of Mormon and the other one lives next to a member who has told her about the gospel. 

Some tender mercies: 

Spaghetti. While we were tracting, I really wanted spaghetti. Then our dinner made us spaghetti!!

Someone gave us a water bottle while we were tracting. 

One of our recent converts got the priesthood. 

Someone said exactly what I needed to hear during testimony meeting. 

Okay, I just realized that it sounds like I had a completely awful week. I didn't, promise! It was actually a really good week, just full of craziness. This week has stretched me and tested me, but I have learned so much from it. My mission has been such an incredible blessing and I wouldn't change a single day of it, even the terribly long days.This week has taught me to be more patient and to keep working, even when I am totally exhausted and just want to sleep. Those are the times that the miracles happen, when I go just a little further than I thought I could. 

Love y'all

Sister Pyper

Aftereffects of a rainstorm

​Wednesday night it poured and we all got soaked. It was the best!! I have missed the thunderstorms. 

My new friend

We went tracting on Monday night and this cat followed us from house to house for a solid 45 minutes. <3

Bojangles+Cookout=happiness

For those of who you haven't been privileged to go to Cookout or Bojangles, we went to both. Sister Jensen hadn't had either, so all  of us went to lunch together. We went to Cookout to get lunch and then brought it with us to get her a Boberry biscuit (A sweet biscuit with blueberries in it and icing on top). Yep, we totally brought food from Cookout into Bojangles :) If that doesn't describe the South I don't know what does :)

I met Mary Poppins :)

The South