Hattiesburg, MS - Week #25

       McKennah and Kaitlyn Fitzgerald 

Good Morning everyone! 

This week has been a very interesting/ good week. I have had a experience this week that I feel like I need to share, I hope whoever is reading this email will learn from my experience and can help themselves grow more spiritually and improve their testimony of the gospel. 

A few days ago my companion Sister Abril and I tracted into a man named Michael. Just a little background about Michael, he doesn't have hardly any religious beliefs. In fact he hates the word believe and faith, he doesn't think that they are real or a reliable source. Michael loves science, and so he is pretty big on having facts. He "Believes that there is not a God, and if there is one he would not love us or care for us. He believes that God sees us as "ants" and that we are insignificant to him. He believes that there is no savior to save us from sins. He thinks that Jesus Christ was just a cool guy that everyone loved."  That is just a little background about Michael, so we tracted into him a couple days ago, and we taught him the plan of salvation and he loved it! We invited him to read from the Book Of Mormon and pray about it to see if it is the word of God and that we would talk about his experience the next morning. Well the next morning came around and Michael was ready to meet with us. He told us to come sit down, and he slams down just about every anti-mormon article that he could find. He tried to tell us that we are being brain-washed and that everything that we believed was wrong. He said "God doesn't care about us, God doesn't exist, and he did not send a savior to save us from sin." I was so sad to see how much Satan had blinded him about the truth. I can honestly say I loved this man. God had blessed me with his love for Michael at that very moment. Instead of becoming mad or frustrated with Michael I ended up just bearing my testimony as tears fell from my face with the strongest conviction. I bore testimony that Jesus is the Christ, that he died for us. And that God loved us perfectly and he values us as much as any other of his other creations. We were created in his image, how could he not love us? I am grateful for this experience and for the lesson that I had learned. I testify that God loves us. HE LOVES YOU. I love ya'll, I hope you have a great week! 

(No pictures sent from McKennah this week....here's an older one I never posted of her and Sister Kendall at Bob's baptism)

Momma!

I know a couple weeks ago, I had a hard time with Sister Abril, but We have been together for a whole transfer now, and I have just come to love that girl. I have prayed for the spirit's guidance to help me move forward in our friendship and companionship. It is hard having a comp, but if we choose to love that person and enjoy being around them then that is when we will have a successful missionary. Sister Kendall and I got along no problem! At times I miss having a companion like her but I have decided to search for the good things in that person. 

This week has been way interesting. We tracted into this investigator named Michael and he was a lot like Bob, he didn't know where he stood in religion. We taught him the plan of salvation and he loved it! We asked him to search the scriptures and pray, and then we would talk about his experience the next day, he said okay. The next day we went to visit him he had a stack of papers full of ANTI-MORMON. We went there thinking that he tried to read and pray but he had some anti, and he had many questions for us. So, We let him ask questions and we answered them no problem and that really bothered him! So he tried to tell us some of the things he read and said that what we believed wasn't true and that there is no God,and if there was a God, then he would send us all to hell.  No Jesus Christ, and that we were not saved from our sins. Man, I was just so upset. Here was this man telling my comp and I these things and I just spoke up with tears in my eyes and said, " I know this church is true. I know that joseph smith did see what he saw, I know that Jesus Christ was my savior and that he did die on the cross for me. If I was the last person to believe these things, I would still stand up for myself. If my life was on the line I would die for my beliefs in this church. " And he was stunned, he knew that I had a strong conviction for this church. I told him that I would be glad to offer the closing prayer and then leave. The sad thing about this story, is that I loved this man. I really did. God has given me a gift to love people, and that is why this was so sad. It broke my heart that he really thought that There was no savior to save us. It broke my heart that he thought if there was a God he wouldn't care for us. There are some people in this world who really do feel this way. Who really do have these thoughts. I am so grateful for my conviction in the gospel. I am grateful to have chosen for MYSELF to believe these things, and then share them with others. I am sorry this is such a long email, but these were my thoughts this week. I love you! 

McKennah with Sister Jacque Fitzgerald and Sister Abril.  Sister Fitzgeralds husband is the bishop of McKennahs ward 

Hattiesburg, MS - Week #24

Transfers were today.  This was McKennah's district before they all split!

Good evening everybody! 

Sorry I am emailing so late, we had transfers today and we were pretty busy. It has been a great week! We have been very blessed. Something that was crazy, one of my investigators Thomas, he cannot read hardly anything. He has a education of a second grader and so for the first month we taught him he would not read the Book Of Mormon. Not because he didn't want to, but because he just couldn't do it. Just last week Sister Abril and I were able to get him to read one verse. As time went on he was able to read 3 verses and then the whole chapter. It was so amazing to witness the spirit work in him. I testify that God always provides a way for his children to hear and accept the gospel. The spirit can teach us all things if we are willing and have enough faith to see it happen. Thomas is doing great now, he loves the scriptures. I am so grateful for the gospel.  I am grateful that God provides ways and means for each of his children. I hope ya'll have a great week! I can't wait to hear from you all soon!

My best friend on my mission, Sister Olsen from Layton, Utah.  I hope I get to serve with her someday soon.

My best friend elders reunite! Price (on the left)  was my very first district leader, and Elder Smith (on the right)  is going to be a DL in Monroe, he will be great! (:

Hattiesburg, MS - Week #23

McKennah sent a pic of her missionary tan....yikes!

Good Afternoon everyone! 

I hope everyone has had a fantastic week and has been spiritually fed during fast Sunday this week, I have loved it! They become more and more meaningful to me as I get older. There is so much that I don't know about the atonement but I am so grateful to be here and serve and gain more knowledge of it.  

This week has been a fantastic week. I have learned a ton and I continue to learn everyday! Sister Abril is doing great! She doesn't have Pink Eye anymore, and my ear is better. Thank you all so much for your prayers on our behalf. We are so grateful that we can put 100 percent into missionary work this week. I am so pumped! Last week I have gained a strong testimony of tracting, for those of you who don't know tracting means knocking door to door, and every week our goal is to get 7 hours of tracting which is not too bad! Sister Abril and I were just about to finish tracting for the day and I remember telling Sister Abril that we are ready to go home for the night when the thought came to me " You need to knock on this door. " And I just thought to myself we only have 20 minutes of tracting left we should just go home. After fighting the prompting I decided I would knock on the door. To my surprise a man named Jonathan opened the door and invited us in. Both him and his wife listened to our message and then invited us over again the 2nd time we went over we taught them the plan of salvation and they LOVED IT! And they decided to invite us over a 3rd time and this time we taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ and I asked them both if they wanted to be baptized by someone holding the proper authority and they both said YES! This is a very rare case scenario to teach a couple that is married and they both want to be baptized. I am so excited for them and I can't help but think how even more beautiful it would be to see them married in the temple a year from now? That is truly what missionary work is about. It is about helping others receive the blessings of the gospel and receiving ALL the blessings of exaltation. I am very excited for them and I pray that the baptism will go through. We have been very blessed. I know that God lives, and that he loves me just as much as those that I am teaching. That is why I am here, is to love his children and help them know of that love and plan he has for them. I am grateful for the gospel and I love you all and hope you enjoy your week!

   

           Sister Abril and Sister Scott

Good morning to my sweet mother! 

I just wanted to say I love you. Thank you for being such a great example and friend to me. I value everything you say, and I just want to thank you for your testimony of the gospel and dragging my brothers and me to church. (more like the boys to church, I have always loved to go) I see now what a big impact it made on me. I am the way I am because of the gospel. I have been truly blessed! Elder Rasband gave a testimony during conference and I loved what he said " I cannot think of a time I have not loved heavenly father and jesus Christ, I have loved them since I have known of them". And to me that rings true in my life. I too, cannot think of a time I have not loved Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I have always loved them since I have loved them. With me being out here on my mission is another outward expression of my love for them. I really do love them. WITH ALL OF MY HEART. It sounds like it has been a crazy week at the Scott's residence! It is always a party! As the holidays are getting closer it makes me miss you guys a whole lot more, and more excited for Christmas to come! We are ALMOST THERE! I have had an awesome week! Sister Abril is feeling a tons better, her pink eye is pretty much gone! I am so so grateful I didn't catch it! My ear is feeling a ton better! I think it may have been the water in my ear from the shower and the hearing aid, but I am honestly doing SO GOOD! Thank you for being worried, and thinking of me and praying. I feel your prayers and I hope you feel mine. I miss you with all my heart and I cannot wait for Christmas! It will be so fun to see your face! Also, I did want to mention that you look great! You are so beautiful and you seem so happy and you are enjoying yourself. I love you! 

Hattiesburg, MS - Week #22

Hey Everyone! I hope you all have had an awesome weekend! I sure did! I recieved so much inspiration and I will be applying it to my life and mission. Training is going well! We had so much fun! We had a ton of fun one night,..we decided to go materess surfing! I will post pictures on here for all to see! haha I have loved my mission so far. It has been an honor and blessing to serve my heavenly father. This week has been a bit challenging, Sister Abril has Pink Eye, and I thought I had a ear infection, but it was just a swimmers ear, and so we have been at the doctors but all is well! missionary work continues! We are excited for this week, and to apply everything we have learned from conference, and also to recover from last week. Thank you for all you do! You are all such great examples to me and I love you all! I have a testimony that God speaks through his prophets and apostles. I know that the things we heard in conference are the exact things that God would have us hear today, so let's recommit ourselves to the things of the gospel and receive the blessings that God would have us have. Love you all! Thanks for everything!

Hey momma! I hope you had a great week, I am doing pretty good! Sister Abril and I have been having a good week, kind off, I thought I had a ear infection this week. My ears were hurting and I felt some pounding in my ear. I wasn't sure what it was. And then Sister Abril had some pink eye, and so we went to the doctors to see what was going on. Turns out, I had swimmers ear and sister Abril had Pink eye. So, it has been an interesting week. My ear is a lot better now, but before it was hurting. So, I took off the hearing aid and gave my ears a break for  a little bit. I am doing a lot better. I hope you guys enjoyed conference! It was a lot of fun for me, I got to watch it with my recent converts and all the other missionaries! It just wasn't the same though, I was a bit homesick but I am okay now. I loved President Neilson's talk it was so so good! I also loved Elder Rasband and Elder Reslund testimonies. They were so good.