February 23, 2015

 

Hey Y'all!

This week has been so wonderful and I can't believe it's already Monday again! So last Monday we had a great time at Fort Pickens.

Tuesday Sister Bracey taught in district meeting on exact obedience. That went pretty well. We left a purification challenge with everyone, a 30 day fast from some things you want to change. We taught how this challenge will help them want to be obedient missionaries. Because when we are obedient we receive miracles and miracles are stellar..  We also made paper airplanes in district meeting using them as an example, if we aren't obedient the whole plane crashes if both companions aren't in on it, then all the investigators crash and eventually everyone dies!

After our good meeting we went and saw the R. We taught them about church, prayer and reading the scriptures and how this CPR saves our spiritual lives. Then we went to this steak house with this member that was really good. Pricey.. members are so good to us.. Our waitress was super nice. I felt so strongly to leave her a card and I was going to and had one in my had when my awesome companion was unified with me and she pulled one out to leave as well. We wrote her a note. That would be really cool if she got in contact with us, she just seemed so sweet and really had some kind of light about her and I really want to teach her. After that nice dinner we tried to see some less actives and we got in with one. That went really well,  we talked to the daughter about missions. She was like "I don't think I could ever do what y'all do." We talked to her about it and by the end of the lesson she was considering going on a mission. She was like "maybe I should go on a mission." The gears were turning, they are a very sweet family.

Wednesday. we did service then we  had a great lesson with J. We taught her the Restoration lesson again. Just to make sure she got it the first time. She didn't get it too much so we were very happy to teach it to her again. She is improving so much! She prayed again in our lesson and that was really great! Her prayers are so awesome and you can really feel the spirit. She also said she wants to come to church, but she works every Sunday. We told her that Heavenly Father would bless her if she would try to get Sundays off. She really has come along way from when we first street contacted her and she said she was freaked out by organized religion, to now be praying and wanting to come to church! After J. we saw another investigator briefly. She was super busy with kids running around but we got to talk, testify and pray. That was good. Then we went with Sister G's to teach R. and E. Sister G. is her visiting teacher. That went well, we taught about faith. We received a nice compliment from her after the lesson. She said that her and her husband think we are a really great companionship and we teach well together and are good missionaries. That was really nice.

We had dinner with the M. Family. Their kids are so adorable!  The youngest daughter S. started to play with my hair and put it up into a ponytail, it was really cute! She  just really wanted us to play with her. She walked up to us and was like "You wanna paint my nails?" Sadly we had to leave.  Then we were able to go to the church and meet with a less active member there. We haven't met him before.  He went on his mission to Jamaica but has been home for a while, he is married and has a teenage son. We were able to get to know him.

Thursday we did planning and had dinner with some members, really the members here are so awesome! We then had a WONDERFUL member present lesson with B. and his son D. 

We taught them at the church. We did a church tour with them and that went really well. The son was very interested we asked them to pray about baptism. They agreed to, then one of the members that came with us asked the son to pray, at first he said no, then he was like "I don't know how to pray", So we went into the other room and sat down and taught him how to pray we were like ok one of us will pray then you pray then maybe your dad will pray.  B. said no to praying because he is super shy but D. said the prayer and it was amazing! The spirit was super strong and I think it really touched B. to hear his 13 year old son pray. I love being a missionary!! It is just so amazing to see how people really do change, we do get to experience these wonderful miracles everyday and being able to bring people closer to our loving Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ. It truly is amazing! 

Friday we had lunch with Sister Y. Then we went to see a newer convert to the church, Sister S. we then went to see another less active and she wasn't home so we went and tried to contact a referral. They lived in the back of this really long dirt/sand road, we knocked but no one was home and while we were leaving we got stuck in the sand, Sister Bracey was driving and I got out and pushed the car..  should of taped that.... hahaha but we were stuck in about at least 6 inches of sand, it was pretty exciting. We then went and tried to contact another referral but she wasn't home..  We then had dinner with a older single sister in the ward. Then we saw a less active family that we haven't been able to see before. The spirit was so strong in their home, it was really neat! They lost a daughter in a car accident about 2 years ago. (I had forgotten about that and Sister Bracey didn't know) but we ended up talking about families and how they can be together forever and how through Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father we can get through trials that we all face in life. We can find happiness and joy through them. When we got to the car I said to Sister Bracey "did I tell you about their daughter?" She said no.. it was truly inspired. It was really neat because the mom is here from Hawaii and she just thanked us for coming over, they came to church on Sunday! They hadn't been in over a year, it was so wonderful to see them, they are a very soft spoken family. He and his son and his mom are members the wife is not yet!  After that great lesson with them we had movie night! We had a big turnout this time that was really good, we watched some bible videos on the life of Christ. 

Saturday we did service for Sister K. the older women we ate with earlier. Then we had a really fun time at volleyball. Oh, I made a cake for the Elders to give to this guy who bought us pizza, it was the Elders idea. They just wanted us to bake the cake, it turned out pretty good, I think, who puts gummy worm smiley faces on a cake... this gal.... hahahaha
Sunday we had 3 investigators attend church with us. Some old ones that haven't been taught in a while. We were able to set up an appointment with them. Their dad is a member but they are just waiting for him to become active so he can baptism them. They are I think 13 and 11 and also E. J. is coming to church every week but doesn't really want to take the lessons right now because she is still dealing with stuff from the passing of her husband. We are giving her the time and space she needs, but we are still in contact with her. Oh, we got to go into the cutest primary class on Sunday to help K. R. out with his class, he asked us to come in and just bare our testimonies to them. Six year old boys are so cute! haha also the teachers  were so cute with them. I should have recorded that. haha... After church we did studies, then we to Pensacola to speak at a YSA, FHE. I spoke on the gift of Charity and Sister B. talked on taking the next step in life. That was interesting.

So today we just received a phone call from the assistants...... and found out that Sister B. is getting Emergency Transferred to Pensacola :( She will be leaving tomorrow.. I am so sad about that. My new companion is from South America. That will be really cool, I will let you know more about that next week. We don't have many details yet. I love y'all so much! Thanks for the support and the love! 

Love, Sister Hannah Seegrist 

Pictures from November 2014



"YIKES"

February 9th and 16th photo's

February 16, 2015

Sorry my email is so late today! Crazy fun day today though! I will get to that later.. I will start with Monday I guess.

Monday we did your fun stuff for p-day, we cleaned the car really well..

Tuesday we had Zone Conference. That was really good. We got black boxes in our cars also know as "TIWI" they are to see how your driving. It is so weird.. if your speeding it talks to you and says in a really creepy voice "Check your speed" or if you don't got your seatbelt on it says "Check your seatbelt" Then if you are aggressive driving it says "aggressive driving" it is weird we also now are doing designated drivers.. Sister B. is the one for our companionship..  I haven't gotten any peeps...  If you get peeped to many times, it sends notifications to president.. then you could lose driving privileges, other than the TIWI we talked about "Member Present Lessons" and how important they are. We talked about being united at a mission and as companionships. We also talked about new ways to go tracting to doors, that was really cool. It is about family history surveys that we take with people. I think that will be a really great tool to use with people. We came home and got to set an appointment with B. He is an investigator that the Elders found. But since the Elders are not here anymore we have the privilege to teach him.

Wednesday we did our same ol' service we do every week. We then had a GREAT lesson with B. He is so prepared! I don't even know how to describe how great and prepared he is. His wife is on deployment over in Korea for a year. She just left in Jan. But what is cool is she is in contact with the missionaries over there in Korea. She is reading the Book of Mormon and they are both preparing and learning together even though they are so far apart. It's crazy how the Lord works sometimes. When we taught him we talked about church, prayer and reading. That went really well.. He really is just so prepared! After our great lesson with B. we went and saw M. and V.They invited us over for dinner later in the week..

Then we had dinner with the S's family. They are really great! We talked to them about scriptures and how important they are to us. We then went to see Brother Crosby. His wife wasn't home so we chatted with him outside for a few minutes.

Thursday we went and tried to see J. and the Jehovah Witnesses were there......... awkward......  we pulled up and they were walking away from her house. We pulled in the driveway and they just starred at us for a good 5 minutes they then left. We went to see J. and she was sick so we couldn't see her. :(  Then we were driving and we passed this house that was being investigated.. there were 7-8 cop cars and FBI and crime scene people with there white gloves and caution tape all around the front door, that was weird. Then we went to have a lesson with J. after our weekly planning. While we were driving over there we came up to a stop light and 4 cop cars come pulling in front of us and block us in. To block off the road. They were helping transport huge piece of cement that was like for a bridge. That took about 10 minutes, it was pretty cool to see though. We then had a really wonderful lesson with J. We talked about prayer she prayed for us.. That was a first in a very, very, long time for her. From what it sounded like to us, she hadn't prayed since her son was born.. He is now 8. The prayer was really great and the spirit was so strong. We committed her to continue praying. She is progressing pretty well.

We had correlation Brother G. scared the tar out of me... anyways... haha just poking his head in the primary room window,  awkward freak out I had... hahaha

Friday we had good lesson with the R. and a great dinner with M. and V. They made us really good grilled chicken. Then we had a good movie night. We watched Scripture Legacy. Really a great movie! Everyone should watch that one as well, you can find it on lds.org. it is only about 20 minutes long, but really good. A non- member came to movie night that was really great! My great companion talked to her for about half an hour.

Saturday we worked at the thrift store and then went contacting at Navarre Park. While we were contacting we saw this car that had a picture of Christ in the window, it was like a church picture as well the one in the red robe. So we wrote a note that said that we really enjoyed their picture and to keep being an example. That was really cool then we had to get the oil changed in our car so we drove to Gulf Breeze and talked to this man who was waiting for and hour and a half we talked to him about so much. Seeds definitely were planted. We then played volleyball that was really fun! Sister S and I did a funny role play for our "spiritual thought." (it was super last minute, when Elder B. asked if one of us could do one.) It was on our weaknesses and we did one on about being awkward, that was really funny!  I am really grateful for the great missionaries I have been able to serve with. I really have had some of the greatest districts.

Sunday we had a great Sunday, church, B. and his boys and his sister came to church!! They could only stay the first hour, but they loved it! Then we had a good rest of our day, planning and working with some members.

Today we went to Fort Pickens That was really fun! Again my district is great! We had a really fun time!

Well family, I love you and I am sorry I didn't email everyone back today.. really low on time.. I will write you back next week. Just know that I love you and the church is true! Stay Righteous!

Love, Sister Seegrist

Feb. 2, 2015 - Happily Staying in Navarre! Six Month Mark

Hola everybody,

This week was really great did a lot of contacting and biking.  Monday we just finished our p-day. We had fun at the beach! Sister Blake packed her bags.

Tuesday we had a really great district meeting. We read the talk" Unleashing the Dormant Sprit." Everyone should read that it is a really good talk! I had to do a role play in front of my whole district. It was pretty good.. I thought. Better then I was expecting. We also talked about being bold, that is what the role play was on. We then talked about Enduring to the End. After district meeting we taught "The Plan of Salvation" to R and E for her new member lessons. Then we taught it to J. She was taken by surprise by the 3 kingdoms, but she wasn't against it. She is doing really well. We had a nice dinner with the M. Family here. They are super Friendly. :)

Wed. I went to the Doctor for some dumb nose bleeds that I had 2 weeks ago. Haha... word of advice, don't tell the mission nurse nothin'.. hahaha Jk it was fine! The doctor did say that I have allergies. Who doesn't. haha ;) Afterwards Sister L.  took us out to pizza for lunch! She is really great!  We then had a lesson with our new Investigator E. J. That went good! We then contacted for awhile. Then we had dinner with the W's. That's not how you spell that but it's pretty close.. haha.  We then tried to see a less active but no one was home! #Morecontacting.. Then we had one of the last new member lessons with A.! That was really good! We taught about the commandments!

 Thursday we did some planning with the Elders, since they are no longer going to be in the ward. Now I am the one who has to do everything. haha since I will be the only one who knows anything about Navarre. We will see how that goes. anyways...

So after the planning with them, we did our own weekly planning. We went to see  the R's again and finished "The Plan of Salvation." Then had correlation meeting with our ward mission Leader.

Friday we just biked all flipping day! haha.... which is fine cause I love biking. It was kind of windy so that is the only thing that made it hard. We biked 20 miles round trip to see two less active.. haha...it was good though. We then got to stop in on Sister A. Didn't get to talk much because she had a sick son, but we are excited to start meeting with her again this week. It has been forever since we have seen her. When we got home from biking we walked to our dinner appt. It was at this Italian Restaurant, it was really good. Then we had movie night! Brother C. came!!!!! That was really cool! He hasn't been to church since 1975 and he just randomly showed up to movie night! We were so excited! We also had some active members come! We watched "Mountain of the Lord."Great movie!

Saturday we worked at the thrift store. Then we went to see M. and V. That was good, we hadn't seen them in about 2 weeks. She is still going through Chemo.

After seeing them we tried another member that we have never met before and we briefly got to chat with her for about 5 mins. Then we did a lot of walking, also had dinner and played volleyball. Volleyball is always super fun!

Sunday E. J. came to church! YAY! It was a really good fast and testimony meeting. A lot of people bore there testimonies on the love that our Heavenly Father has for each of us! It was a really great one! We then had our final new member lesson with A. That was good, we talked a lot about priesthood. Thank goodness that Brother S. was there to help answer some questions he had. After that lesson we tried to see C. she is sick. Then we had out final new member lesson (NML) with L. as well, she is doing really great! She got into the U of U She is just waiting to hear back from the dance program there. After our lesson there we walked to dinner with the G's. They are a new family in the ward. They are a really great family!

We got transfer calls last night! I am staying her in Navarre! I am super excited about that! I love this area! I am coming on being out for 6 months on the 6ths of this month.. oh wait that's in like 4 days! Wow!! I am sad about the Elders leaving the area. it will be weird not having Elders to help out at times! Oh well, haha...Today we are just getting stuff ready for Sister Cooper to head home! She arrives home on Thursday! It has been great serving with her! It is really great and crazy how you really do learn to love your companions for who they are! haha..  I will miss her! Well, that is all for this week! I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Love, Sister Hannah Seegrist