SURPRISE! OUR AMAZING, STRONG, FUNNY, KIND, INSPIRING FRIEND CHRISTY GOT BAPTIZED AND RECIEVED THE GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST ON SUNDAY!!!! Not gonna lie, one of the most stressful but miraculous baptisms I've been a part of! This week we met with Christy to finish up her lessons for her baptism this next Saturday (November 4th) but mid lesson, her hip popped out of place... AGAIN:( She was in sooooooo much pain like prsd inducing pain. She had to get taken to the ER and they found her hip bone had moved up to her abdomen--so yeah, not fun AT ALL. She got a hip replacement in June due to her auto immune disease and the replacement had been dislocating many times before this last, super intense time. Long story short, she is getting emergency surgery this Wednesday to replace that day hip replacement aha that fetcher. So she wanted to get baptized before to have the gift of the Holy Ghost for the surgery so she wouldn't have to wait for after her recovery. LOTS OF PRAYERS HOLY MOLY! We got everything figured out in TWO DAYS. Usually it takes more than a week for these things lol but God made it happen. After her baptism interview Elder Switzer and Elder Gibb gave her a beautiful blessing of comfort. I am amazed by the support of the members in Spartanburg First Ward! The talks and ceremony were beautiful and I was even able to squeeze in some cutesy decorations;) Christy was very overwhelmed and nervous. She said her hip felt week that day. She also has anxiety and panic attacks and had to sit in the lobby during the Primary program in sacrament meeting. Sister Hillyer and I were super nervous and stressed getting last minute things done. We had to pray for the font to fill faster cuz it was very slow lol. We left it running during the talks and by the time we used it, it was just right:) Brother Mather and Brother Grinder's son performed the baptism and the power of God's love was so strong in that room and water as she was baptized.... TWICE haha! She will not let us forget and everything was completely good and she later received the gift of the Holy Ghost. This was a VERY HARD thing for her to do--even that's an understatement lol, but she did it and I feel that this experience was even more of a testimony to me that the ordinances of the gospel are truly real and life changing. Even with the stress and anxiety, God was there and strengthening the whole experience. We were ALL a mess of tears--Christy, members, and us. I am so excited that she has made this first heaven sealed promise with God.
Something else REALLY COOL is that the day before, we brought a bunch of mine and previous missionaries dresses for her to wear and I also found my white temple dress that I got at the beginning of my mission from Sister West! As I was rushing crying packing from my last area in Gilbert a week ago I wondered why I had kept it even from Conway since my missions temple was closed and I had a dress at home so I really didn't have a need for it anymore. For no reason at the time I packed it anyway as I left an area I had only been in for 5 weeks to come here not being sure why. BUT a little/big tender mercy that I know I am meant to be here this last transfer is without a doubt I was saving that temple dress for Christy my whole mission. It fit her perfectly! I wish I got pictures with her in it before because she looked GORGEOUS. She wore one of my mission dresses along with that dress instead of a jumpsuit and it worked well with her knee brace too. It hit me during the talks that she will wear it when she goes through the temple in a year:,) She is very excited and just a truly beloved daughter of Heavenly Father who deserves the world and more and I'm glad God lined things up so I could show my love for her and offer a gift that made that day even more special!
So yeah--another beautiful sign from God that I am supposed to be here right now and I'm so excited to see more of His tender mercies here! (Sorry that was so long lol. I had to do Christy justice but here's a few more fun things this week...)
-Epic ward Trunk or Treat, more epic costumes and giant bubble game, AND our new friend Jennine (her husband was a member but died very recently) got 2ND PLACE in the chili cook-off--what a queen!
- Every member meeting I have had has been so lit. I'll try to take more pictures but I've gotten lots of good advice from what to do after the mission all the way to what gun I should get in the future lol! Thanks Brother Mathis! (He even gave a spiritual thought for the Pistol 1911 with 1 Kings 19:11 lol.)
Something else REALLY COOL is that the day before, we brought a bunch of mine and previous missionaries dresses for her to wear and I also found my white temple dress that I got at the beginning of my mission from Sister West! As I was rushing crying packing from my last area in Gilbert a week ago I wondered why I had kept it even from Conway since my missions temple was closed and I had a dress at home so I really didn't have a need for it anymore. For no reason at the time I packed it anyway as I left an area I had only been in for 5 weeks to come here not being sure why. BUT a little/big tender mercy that I know I am meant to be here this last transfer is without a doubt I was saving that temple dress for Christy my whole mission. It fit her perfectly! I wish I got pictures with her in it before because she looked GORGEOUS. She wore one of my mission dresses along with that dress instead of a jumpsuit and it worked well with her knee brace too. It hit me during the talks that she will wear it when she goes through the temple in a year:,) She is very excited and just a truly beloved daughter of Heavenly Father who deserves the world and more and I'm glad God lined things up so I could show my love for her and offer a gift that made that day even more special!
So yeah--another beautiful sign from God that I am supposed to be here right now and I'm so excited to see more of His tender mercies here! (Sorry that was so long lol. I had to do Christy justice but here's a few more fun things this week...)
-Epic ward Trunk or Treat, more epic costumes and giant bubble game, AND our new friend Jennine (her husband was a member but died very recently) got 2ND PLACE in the chili cook-off--what a queen!
- Every member meeting I have had has been so lit. I'll try to take more pictures but I've gotten lots of good advice from what to do after the mission all the way to what gun I should get in the future lol! Thanks Brother Mathis! (He even gave a spiritual thought for the Pistol 1911 with 1 Kings 19:11 lol.)
-The Summers are a young couple in the ward that wanted to feed us fish heads on Saturday night lol but apparently it was too late in the week or something, so they had to buy the headless trouts... what a bummer aha!
-My bestie Aaron (now with the nick name Mickey cuz he loves Mickey Mouse) is a middle schooler who hooked me up with tons of candy he didn't want lol at the ward party. He kept coming back and putting his candy in my bucket lol. Also his nick name for me is "Sister Underground Railroad" because that's what the slaves used to become--Freemen. I gave him lots of points for originality. Usually I just get Sister Freewoman or something but Underground Railroad is lit:) But Christ truly does free men like the Underground Railroad did. Good stuff!!
-Our Zone slogan is #faithtofeed so then at DCM we made our district slogan #chewoncharity hahaha! It was so fun memorizing 1 Corinthians 13 on charity, so it was perfect!
Southern Vocab:
Haint tree/bottle tree: The Gula Gichi people would catch evil spirits in the bottles they put on trees and spirits apparently got stuck in them during the night until the sun came out and killed them in the morning!
Now I need that bottle tree for all of Satan's lies, tactics and temptations frfr but oh wait! I've got God, Jesus and the Holy Ghost so they've got us covered lol!
-My bestie Aaron (now with the nick name Mickey cuz he loves Mickey Mouse) is a middle schooler who hooked me up with tons of candy he didn't want lol at the ward party. He kept coming back and putting his candy in my bucket lol. Also his nick name for me is "Sister Underground Railroad" because that's what the slaves used to become--Freemen. I gave him lots of points for originality. Usually I just get Sister Freewoman or something but Underground Railroad is lit:) But Christ truly does free men like the Underground Railroad did. Good stuff!!
-Our Zone slogan is #faithtofeed so then at DCM we made our district slogan #chewoncharity hahaha! It was so fun memorizing 1 Corinthians 13 on charity, so it was perfect!
Southern Vocab:
Haint tree/bottle tree: The Gula Gichi people would catch evil spirits in the bottles they put on trees and spirits apparently got stuck in them during the night until the sun came out and killed them in the morning!
Now I need that bottle tree for all of Satan's lies, tactics and temptations frfr but oh wait! I've got God, Jesus and the Holy Ghost so they've got us covered lol!
Anywaysssss this email is kinda scattered but I love y'all so much! Have the BEST WEEK!
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