We Got Jumped Just as the Police Drove By!

Happy Transfer Day!

Thankfully, Sister J. and I aren't going anywhere! It was such an anxious morning, considering Sister B. and Sister W. slept over with us to see if we'd get a call between 7-10am. It was hilarious because Sister W. talked about how we should call a bunch of companionship's to freak them out about transfers. Just as she said that, I called their number and they screamed and ran to their phone, then realized it was me calling them. They were so mad at me but I was almost rolling on the floor laughing. Every text we got we gasped, and it was the longest morning in my life! So, Sister J. and I are staying, but now Sister J. is even more worried for next transfers considering she's been out for 8 months and has been in one area. 

We were able to go out and walk in front of the Book of Mormon Musical twice this week. Once when it was during intermission (apparently it was common for people to storm out because they were insulted) in the freezing cold until 9:40pm. No one came out mad and we passed out a few cards because most of them only came out to smoke and weren't interested. But then we went on Saturday after the matinee ended, and when people were lining up for the night showing. I am so glad that I was able to learn to be bold, and not fear rejection. I was hesitant to ask each person walking by if they wanted a card, but I was able to switch my thought process from "I can't do it," to "I can do it with God." By the end, Sister J. was talking to a guy named Derrick who isn't in our area, and I was yanking out her cards in her hands while I was giving them out. I was thinking about how much fun it was! I knew that everyone needs a chance to be invited to learn more, and it's all on me if I don't give them that opportunity. I'd much rather have them be held accountable than I! 

There were some pretty interesting people as we were passing out cards. One guy came up to me as we were talking to the elders (There were 2-3 companionship's at a time). He looked at me, gasped, and said, "You are so... beautiful", while staring at me. It was a BIT awkward. We moved around some more, and sometimes he would just stand by us and stare at me. There was a man from Costa Rica on a trip with two of his friends and was so excited to see the musical. One of his friends accepted a Book of Mormon, and the Costa Rican really wanted a picture with Sister J. and me. We're really not entirely sure if that was allowed, but he grabbed us and took a picture before we could deny it. So, I wonder if I'm on Facebook somewhere! A few people asked us if we were real Mormons, and then two guys walked on by and said, "Hey elders!" while waving. We're not entirely sure if they were joking or not, since I'm pretty sure two people in skirts aren't guys... There was another guy in his car blasting "Staying Alive" and staring at me seductively (an awful job by the way). I totally shut him down and gave him a card and mentioned about how I'm a missionary for my church for 18 months and walked away from his window. Defeated! All in all, it was a pretty amazing experience. We got two referrals from headquarters due to the musical so we're excited to be teaching them! Hopefully they don't want to just Bible bash us or something.

Downtown Atlanta:  This is where Sister J. and I spend a lot of time teaching.

Another great experience this week was when we went to go to dinner again at a less active's house, D. R. (His wife is Bulgarian and they had us for dinner in December.) They were so excited to have us again and remembered all that we were talking about, and asked how my solo went because I was so nervous about it.  Sister J and I were able to answer some of his 'antagonizing' questions. He wanted to know if we could sin in the pre-mortal life, and why did the offspring of the Lamanites have to be cursed if we aren't punished for others transgressions. We were able to teach him more about the Plan of Salvation, and he was surprised with what we taught because he's never heard about it before. He even took the pamphlet and the articles we printed out and said that he wants us to come over and discuss more. He even jokingly asked if we were forced to go on a mission, but we ended up telling our story why we decided to go on a mission and bore our testimony. It was awesome; he asked us a question that brought in the spirit! I feel so privileged because he's had other missionaries before for dinner, but we're the only ones who he's brought into his home (that's because he was single then) and brought back for a second time. The testing question was, "If the prophet told you to strap on a bomb and go to a mosque and kill people, would you do it?" The answer the missionaries gave him was the deciding factor if he'd invite them over again, and we were the only ones to answer it correctly. So I can very much see Sister J. and I explaining the misconceptions of the church, because the more I'm out here, the more people I see teaching their own doctrine, and not doctrine out of the scriptures. 

As we were recording ourselves in the car singing Christmas carols off tune, we got a text from M. saying that she's back with N. in her apartment. (This is the couple where he was arrested for domestic violence and we might have to testify in court.) She declared that N. is a changed man because he was in jail for 3 weeks, and we were so upset. She ended up coming to church, and we're going to be teaching her (and most likely scolding her) on Tuesday. We don't trust N. at all, but they're going to be going to a church Valentine’s Day activity on Saturday so we'll see him then.

We had L., our recent convert, come out teaching with us, but no one was home or our plans fell through. We ended up reading out of the Book of Mormon a chapter that she didn't understand. We were in the car with the AC on because it was pretty hot for twenty minutes or so. She left and as I was backing the car to leave, the car battery died. Sister J. and I prayed with as much faith as we could that it would start again, but it didn't happen. We had to go ask someone if they had jumper cables to jump the car. The police drove on by (probably wondering what two white girls were doing in a sketch part of town) asking if we needed help. We said no because a guy was getting his car to park next to ours. As he was parking he literally got 2 inches away from our headlight and I almost had a heart attack! The police officers ended up watching us as they jumped our car. All of the guys helping us told us to get out of there quickly because it was no place for us to be. So it was a pretty amusing situation, but thankfully we got to our next appointment on time!

Sister B. (the one that had gall bladder surgery) went to church this week! We were overjoyed and I was so happy to see her! She told us that she was feeling so sick at 6am that morning, but she kept telling herself, "I have to get to church; I have to get to church". She took some medicine but still feeling awful as she was driving to church, but once as she got there, she immediately felt better. Miracles! But one of the downsides of their family is that Karma their very naughty dog is pregnant. Noo! I can barely handle one Karma, how are we going to deal with puppies?!

Sister B. presented us with gifts--the purple coat for Sister J. and this grey shirt for me--which is so long that it could practically be a short dress!

One last little fun story is that we saw a trailer of 20 mattresses or so. We were driving behind it and got on video 10 or so mattresses falling off the trailer onto the road. We stopped and helped them pick up their mattresses (no bed bugs thankfully), and I taught them about the Restoration and got their contact information. Wouldn't it be the funniest thing if Minister F. got baptized just because we helped them pick up their mattresses off the road and onto their trailer?

R. once again cancelled on us, but he's wanted to see us so bad recently. (He’s the homeless man who taught us that since God is patient with us we need to be patient with Him.) We're contemplating just teaching him over the phone because he's at a shelter now with strict rules. He has to be out by 6am and in by 6pm.  

Another great quote I want to end with is once again by Gordon B. Hinckley, "Those who move forward with a happy spirit will find that things will always work out."

Following President Hinckley's counsel to have a happy spirit.   

I hope that all of you are always progressing, and Happy Belated Birthday Dustin! I hope you all have a great week, and Happy Early Single Awareness Day!

-Sister Sudweeks

I Survived the Apocalypse!!

Happy Monday!

According to Atlanta on Tuesday, literally the world was ending just because of 3 inches of snow. I don't know how aware each of you were about the national news coverage about Atlanta, but lets just say it was one of the most interesting experiences I've had on my mission!

Tuesday we were told that it was going to snow at 12pm, and we had District Meeting at the church at 10. We were making copies afterward, and we saw that it was snowing constantly and we had a day full of appointments with less actives and investigators. We hurriedly went to the MARTA Station and the snow was attacking our faces and we couldn't really see where we were going. It was so cold our faces were going numb just because how frigid it was.

We got on the train to go up north, and about one station up we hear that there is a Medical Emergency at Five Points, repeated over and over again. The train wasn't moving, and later on we hear, "We are turning off the power on the train, the train will go dark. The doors are going to close! I repeat, the train will go dark!" over, and over, again. Hah. So we were stuck at West End, two stops away from Five Points, and five stops away from home. The doors were closed, and it was dark, and people were mumbling on how they need to get home. People started spreading all of these rumors that someone fell on the tracks at Five Points and died. Others kept on saying that someone fell on the tracks and a bus caught on fire. Another said that SWAT came in for some strange reason. MARTA kept on changing their story since they also said that there were technical difficulties because of the snow. But locals told us that people fall on the train all the time because they're intoxicated so they have to shut down the power, but it was never off for this long. So I'm guessing more towards someone fell and got injured, I guess I'll never know!

Everyone ended up having to get off the train, and MARTA said that there would be buses to take us up to Civic Center, which is one stop north of Five Points so we could be on our way. All of the trains stopped entirely going in and out of Five Points, which is the main station to go North, East, South, or West. People were getting so mad about how they needed to get home, and fights were happening as everyone was trying to find those buses. In the end, none of the buses were going to Civic Center, and we were just waiting around trying to figure out what to do. We made friends with some people who had smart phones, although they weren't interested in the Church. But it's okay! After a while, MARTA started to single track trains, and everyone ran to go up North. I have never been so packed into a train before, and I really hope that I'll never have to go through that again. This one guy was trying to get on, and the doors were trying to close but couldn't because he was in the way. People were yelling and shoving at him to get out of the way so the doors could close, but in a more colorful language so to speak.

We walked home, and cars were packed bumper to bumper, with swearing and honking every two seconds. I was so glad that I wasn't driving! I'm going to admit, I was jumping in the fresh snow because I haven't seen it in over a year! Sister J. kinda laughed at me since she's from Utah and is totally used to the snow. As we were walking home, a man was on the phone and his side of the conversation went something like this, "This is like the show The Day After Tomorrow! The city is shutting down, people are trapped on the roads, cars in the intersection. It's the end of the world my friend! I hope you've stocked up on food because this is the end!" We laughed since honestly everyone thought the world was ended in Georgia.

Yes, I did survive the Apocalypse of January 2014!

It ended up taking us 2 1/2 hours to get home, when it would have taken us about 35. Great fun! Later that night we went outside to see if we could help people up the hill that we live by. We pushed cars up the road. We ended up seeing a MARTA bus that got hit by not one, but three cars! Elder B. and Elder M. are the only MARTA riders in our district beside us, and they told us another bus tipped over. I'm so glad they weren't on that bus and they got home safe!

Traffic was a mess--especially for this MARTA bus.

Sister B. also had her surgery on Tuesday, and it went great. Her oxygen levels were down and the doctors said that she should stay overnight to monitor her. Brother B. didn't want her to stay overnight, because he knew that the snow would be so bad, and he wouldn't be able to come in and see or, or take her home. They even ordered her a bed, and that really meant she was staying for the night. Brother B. told us that he went to the bathroom, and knelt down and prayed his heart out that if it was God's will, that he would be able to take his wife home. He went back into her room, and apparently the doctors left the building after they ordered her a bed, and then came back to check on her once more. They let her go home that very day! Miracles, and the faith of that couple! I honestly think those two could move mountains. We saw Sister B. on Saturday, and she's recovering quickly, but not as quick as we wished she would. She had a lot of gallstones the size of a silver dollar which is why she was in so much pain. We don't know when she'll be baptized, but tonight we're showing her the Restoration DVD with Elder and Sister N., the senior couple in our district.

Wednesday we had to stay in the entire time. We had a mission wide conference call to let us know to stay home with instructions to call every single member on our ward list. Uh huh.  Nine hundred people, five companionship's, one snow day. Sister J and I split it all up by zip code, and we made 103 calls! New record, woo! We gave many spiritual thoughts to less actives and active members. Many people called us that morning to make sure that we were okay, and if they needed to buy anything for us and I felt so loved by the ward members! This truly is an amazing ward that I'm in.

A view from my balcony.

I learned a very valuable lesson this week, and I've learned it before, but it really just hit me this week. I know the plan that Heavenly Father has for me is to have a life full of service. I'm the type of person who likes it when people show their appreciation. This week I realized that I should give 110% to everyone and anyone, but not expect anything back. Never do anything just to get praise. Which is somewhat a hard thing for me since a mission is just all service. But now I've learned not to get upset when I see others get praise for something I did as well, or anything like that. Now that I can keep that in mind, I'll be able to have more of a positive attitude as a missionary when my hard work goes unnoticed.

R. (the homeless man) was supposed to met with us on Wednesday, but couldn't because of the snow. He couldn't come to church either since I believe he was going to go to his own since he has a calling there as well, but we are going to meet with him this Wednesday.

Thursday we walked to the library (and it ended up being closed) and we met a lot of amazing homeless people. We literally talked to everyone that we passed by, and everyone was so engrossed with what Sister J. and I were teaching them about the Restoration. There was a motorcycle store across the street, and right when I was telling them about Joseph Smith, a guy would revv his motorcycle loudly. S. one of the men we were teaching commented, "Every time you get to the good part, that guy revvs his motorcycle!" Haha, but we were able to give our contact information to everyone, and it was great. I especially admire a guy named R. who wants to be an architect, and said that he'll draw the Salt Lake Temple for us, and he said it was so beautiful. We taught him as well, and we're hoping to see him whenever we're in the area. We were waiting for the bus, and he was worried the bus would drive on by. He stood out in the street waving his arms saying, 'STOP! THE MORMON CHICKS NEED TO GET ON THE BUS!" He was so proud of himself and told us we were his art angels--how precious.

L. (the woman who was baptized a couple of weeks ago) came out to teach with us and she absolutely loved it. She told us that she wants to come out and teach with us whenever she can, and never be afraid to ask. She helped us teach N. and B., the couple who live in their car. It was an intense discussion. They have some pretty interesting beliefs, such as B. believes that the ancient scrolls will tell us the way we need to go, and he only trusts Heavenly Father. They ask us so many questions that aren't important for our eternal salvation. Such as, "Who did Cain marry, and what was her name?" and so on and so on. They keep on asking us questions, and our answer was the same every time practically, "Read the scriptures, and pray." 

Missionaries were finally allowed to use cars again on Friday, and so we were driving home to get our area book to go see less actives because our appointments cancelled. We saw the entire crowd of the audience that went to go see the Book of Mormon Musical. I was just dying to go talk to them about our church because if they were willing to see the musical, why not hear the actual facts from a reputable source? We parked and we walked to Fox Theater since it was so close to where we were at, and we prayed and got the answer that we needed to walk around although it wasn't our day to do so. (Technically we haven't been told when we're going, so who knows when that will happen.) But I felt so empowered walking around. I also learned the lesson on how the Spirit communicates with me on where I should go. I was able to clearly tell whether we were supposed to go left or right on the streets. I wasn't afraid that these people just saw a show that made fun of us. It was interesting considering I would smile and say hello to people, and they wouldn't look us in the eye. Sister J and I feel like that in a way, they were ashamed that they went to go see that play. Earlier that week, we were on the bus and we went by the Fox Theater and it had the advertisement for the musical. This woman mouthed to us, "Are you Mormon?" We said yes and started to talk to her. She later on said, "Now that I've seen you, I no longer want to see that show." So although I wasn't prompted to talk to anyone as we were walking around since the crowd died down a lot, I feel like since they've seen actual missionaries we've influenced some people just by seeing Sister J and I laugh and smile as we waved to the other missionaries.

Sorry for the long e-mail, but I just want to end it with a quote that I love by President Gordon B. Hinckley, "The secret of change is to focus all of your energy. Not on fighting the old, but on building the new."

If you want change, focus on the positive, not the negative. Your desire to change must be stronger than staying as you are. Always move forward!

-Sister Sudweeks

No, this isn't my car or my sign--but don't you love it?

You can call me Jedi Sudweeks! May the Force be with you!

Hey all! (Not, hey y'all!)

Once again the sick bug caught our companionship. Sister J has been sick all week so we attempted to be as productive as possible.

One of our goals this week was to see one 'other' investigator daily. They are the ones who aren't progressing, and we haven't seen in a long time. We had to decide whether we were going to continue working with them, or drop them. Let’s just say there was a lot of both going on. It made me really sad seeing people not wanting to come unto Christ and live their lives which I know could be much fuller of joy and peace.

To start off, we met with K. (an 'other'), and we had a pretty long conversation about the Fall of Adam. He truly believes that Eve used to lay eggs, and have them hatch and a baby pop out of them before they partook of the fruit. It was pretty interesting trying to clarify the Bible, and seeing where his beliefs came from. He knows Joseph Smith is a true prophet, but since he has to take care of his family members who aren’t healthy and lay in bed all day, he can't leave to go to church. When he leaves he has to pay someone, so that's the barrier we have with him. (Technically there is a lot of barriers that we have with a lot of investigators.)

We met with N., who I believe I've talked about before. She went to the Relief Society Quilting activity, which we went to, also. She's so proactive and wants to make friends because she just moved here a few months ago. She even said to someone, "Who knows, I might get converted!" We had stopped seeing her since the last time we went over there, she didn't want to talk about the church at all, just socialize. Well, after we heard that comment, we went over again and once again...we just socialized. We think that she'll be converted through the members, and not the missionaries. She wants to go to all of the activities, so we'll just keep on inviting her to those.

Wednesday night was absolutely amazing! We met with this homeless man named R., who is friends with one of the members in the ward. He told us his story and his perspective on life, and I feel like he taught me more than we taught him. Sister J and I wanted to invite him to be baptized so bad, because he's already read 3/4th of the Book of Mormon, and is just thirsting for even more. He made a comment about God. "If God can be patient with us, why can't we be patient with Him? God deals with imperfect people all day, every day. We constantly hit a brick wall over and over again, not learning the lesson. But He still loves us, and is patient with us. When we ask him in prayer for something, we get upset that He doesn't answer it right away. So, we must be patient with Him, it's only fair.”  He came to church on Sunday, and we'll be teaching him the Plan of Salvation on Wednesday. We gave him the pamphlet, and he was reading it as he was walking away. I am so excited to see him progress!

Another quote that I really love that's actually in the church building is something President Gordon B. Hinckley said, "You will come to know that what appears today to be a sacrifice will prove instead to be the greatest investment that you will ever make." I can really relate that to the mission I'm on. It's a sacrifice to be here, and it's hard being on a mission. But I know that this will be an investment in my later life. My testimony is stronger than it has ever been before. I've met amazing people that I've been able to influence for good, strengthen their beliefs, and show them the truth of the gospel. I think I would actually REGRET, not going on a mission, since it's now priceless to me. Although I've been sick and weak with sinus headaches and missed home this past week, I wouldn't trade it for anything.

The Book of Mormon Broadway musical is here in Atlanta, Georgia, and our district will be out in the front answering the questions of the people seeing the show. We don't know which companionships will be out front, but I really hope its Sister J and me! It'll be in town for six weeks, so I'm guessing we'll be trading off each night.

We met with N. and B., (another 'other') and we had this very, very long discussion on the Godhead. They believed that there was just 'one' instead of three. We were outside their car (where they live) for over and hour trying to explain that they're three separate people, pulling out pamphlets, scriptures, and analogies. It was a lot like K.’s discussion, but it all comes down to prayer—they need to pray to Heavenly Father and ask if what we're teaching them is true. He may not answer us right away, but He will eventually if we have a sincere heart and a desire to know the truth!

One of the things I've wanted to do this entire mission was to sing for our food. We had a dinner appointment with this couple who both served missions. Sister J has a Portuguese hymn book, so we sang "Nearer My God To Thee" in Portuguese. I think we sounded pretty good, and apparently we pronounced it correctly! Yay for that! After the dinner appointment, we walked to the train station. We had our gloves on, and we have to tap our MARTA card to get to the trains, and the doors will open. We had our cards inside our gloves, and we put our hand on the sensor to get the door to open. It felt like I was Jedi Sudweeks, using the force to open the door!

Another funny little tidbit was that it was really cold this week (the fountain froze over again)  I kinda, sorta attempted to walk across the fountain because I wanted to "walk on water." Last week we only stood on it. I somewhat achieved my goal (it's also on my bucket list so I HAD TO) but fell in at the very end. Heh, oops! 

I walked on water until--crack--the ice gave way!

We went over to Brother and Sister B’s home to clean their floors and carpets. Brother B. joked that we should open up a cleaning service because we cleaned so well. They fed us to thank us for our hard work.  We sang to them "How Great Thou Art" as our thank you for the delicious dinner.  Karma, their dog jumped on us and licked my mouth as I was singing (gag) but we managed to get through two verses. Brother B. said that we have amazing voices, and should try to get a recording contract since, "If you have a #1 hit song once, you're set for life!" He says that "we have the voice, the look, and if we can write songs that are relate-able, we'll be famous for sure.” If only that were easy! I learn more about Brother B. each time I go over there. I found out he was in a band, and he too wrote songs and sang, and he actually sang a few songs for us which were really good. He also wanted to be a race car driver, and so he did that!

Sister B. said she was going to come to church, and I really believed it this time, but unfortunately she got really sick early, early Sunday morning, and was unable to. She has her surgery on the 28th, and we're hoping she'll get baptized either on the 9th or 16th. We found out recently that she doesn't want to give up her coffee, and so we're going to watch the Restoration DVD with her, to hopefully strengthen her testimony of Joseph Smith.

I was really depressed that Sister B. couldn't come to Stake Conference on Sunday, and I realized I should feel this way (but not to the extreme) for every investigator that fails to come to church. Stake Conference on Saturday and Sunday was amazing, since it talked about how members should hasten the work of salvation. We should not be afraid to open our mouths, because it's the Lord's work. If we are helping to hasten the work, He will help us on what to say. We should have confidence in our own testimonies, they are ours, and we can choose to have them be strong or weak. He has asked us to do missionary work this entire time, and He's asking us to PLEASE share the truth that brings us so much happiness. We must share it with others, and if you haven't heard of this truth, be curious, and ask your LDS friends questions. I'd be happy to answer any that you have!  If missionaries ask any of you to come out on team ups, say yes. They probably have prayed that you'd be the right fellowshipper for their investigator (or they desperately need a team up!)  :)

-Sister Sudweeks

Let's Hope I Don't Have to Go to Court!

Salutations! (Did anyone else think of Charlotte's Web?)

 

So last P-day, I got a lot of articles on unhealthy perfectionism, anxiety, grace, shyness, and sections of Believing Christ from Sister Harding (our Mission President’s wife) that she wants me and Sister J. to read. Well, I didn't think we had THAT many issues, we just were getting headaches, and couldn't sleep very well! 

 

But I learned a lot as I read through many of those pages. I learned that perfectionism is a journey, not a place that one can get to quickly. I have been telling myself unrealistically that I need to be the perfect missionary, when in reality the expectations I've been giving myself are impossible to achieve in the first place. I've been learning that my best is good enough, the Atonement makes up for the rest of it, and our Heavenly Father doesn't expect us to be perfect, as long as we're striving to progress and never be idle.

 

On P-day, I needed to buy stamps, (I bought DISNEY STAMPS!) and it wasn't raining when we left. Then by the time we got out of the post office, it was raining pretty hard, and we didn't have an umbrella! I turned to Sister J. and asked if she wanted to go to Krispy Kreme (we've been craving it ever since I got here 2 months ago) and we decided to go on an impromptu rainy day adventure! So we walked two blocks or so, and walked home in the pouring rain. We didn't have hoods and we took pictures with our Krispy Kreme hats, and wet hair. They didn't turn out too well, but oh well!

 

Each and every week, I love Sister J. more and more. She really is one of my best friends. Earlier on this week we just had hours and hours of deep conversations, and what we learned about our past and how we've progressed. Companionship inventory wasn't a big deal in the past because we don't have any issues in general, but we started to talk about our strengths and weaknesses, and it helps both of us on what we're doing good on, and what we need to improve on. I learned that knowing what your strengths are is important, so we can continue to develop them and KEEP them as strengths. Then sometimes we notice others weaknesses, and we can help each other on those. Every weakness really does come out on a mission! But anyway, we call each other 'Sister Sudman' as our companionship name. How lovely, haha!

 

Speaking of weaknesses, I'm going to include trials and afflictions. In 1st Nephi 18:16 Nephi talks about how he prayed to our Heavenly Father and didn't complain about being bound from his brothers. He thanked our Heavenly Father about ALL things, even the bad. Sister J. (another sister missionary in our district) showed us this scripture and challenged us to pray and give thanks for our trials, because it helps us to become closer to Him by relying on Him more, by learning to be more Christ-like, and so on and so on. So I challenge YOU to do that as well! It was weird at first, but I honestly love it because now I know what I can continue to work on each day.

 

Sister J. and I are no longer teaching M. and N, and we're absolutely devastated. M. called us that she's at her Mom's house, and will be staying there for who knows how long. M. and N. were living together, and we had the suspicion that he was physically abusive, but didn't have solid proof. We knew he was verbally abusive, and that's why we only went to their apartment once, and have only taught her at the church. She had to escape the apartment and call the police and go to the hospital because of the injuries he gave her. He got angry at her because she cancelled the appointment we had with her that night because she was feeling very sick. N. ended up in jail, but we've heard from M. that he has friends sending him money to bail him out. So we are going to refer her to other missionaries so she can continue to progress. If he gets out, the church leaders told us to stay away from his apartment area, not answer his phone calls, and not be at the church by ourselves because he knows where the church is. Sister J. and I wrote out our testimony witness in case we have to go to court. Missionaries aren't supposed to get involved with public affairs that we cannot follow up with, but considering this is an abusive case, we may get special permission to do so in the future. Let’s hope not!

 

Sister B. has to get her gall bladder out on the 28^th. Brother B. was able to go to church, but Sister B. couldn't because she was in so much pain. I'm started to wonder if she's EVER going to get baptized. But I know she will, eventually. Heavenly Father knows the entire picture! I just need to learn to be more patient

 

L. was baptized on Saturday, and it was amazing! I was so excited and I even cried when she was confirmed a member of the church, and received the Holy Ghost. I've been sick with the cold/'flu for the past week, and the four of us sister missionaries did a musical number. Sister B. and W. didn't know I was sick when they offered us, but thankfully no one could tell I was sick when we performed not once but twice! Once when not one but FOUR people were changing back into their regular clothes, and then once everyone was back in their seats. I was dying because my ears were so congested and I couldn't tell what I sounded like. But it all worked out in the end! L. said that she feels different, and that she's happy. I know she's going to love this ward.

 

January 17, 2014--A very special day for Sister L!

Speaking of the ward, this ward is amazing. I absolutely love this ward, and it's so important for missionaries to get the trust of the auxiliary leaders. They are so appreciative that we're doing less active work, and I'm so excited that the rest of our missionary district now has all of the less active paperwork to go visit them! Unfortunately we didn't finish all of the paperwork Monday night, but since we're only giving each companionship a zip code at a time, it's all right that it's not all done. At church three people told me I had a fever because I was hot the entire time at church, and I didn't even want my cardigan on (I always have a cardigan on). So, yay! I have a fever, I have no idea if I have a cold or the flu! We went on splits after church, and Sister W. watched over me while Sister J. went with Sister B. to check up on some of our potentials.

 

Also the random pictures that I sent, we had a really long day earlier this week and Sister J. was SO tired, she just got on the table and slumped over. It was the funniest thing ever so I couldn't help but take pictures. Then she wanted to be Superman and I just had to take a picture of that too! I wanted to imitate her, but the table wasn't big enough for me so I had to use the counter. Who says missionaries can't have fun?!

 

Sister J is beyond exhausted.

However, when the camera is going she's energized and "mild manner Sister J. turns into... Superman!

Of course, Sister Sudweeks wants to show off her super hero powers, also!  (In a side note, look at how clean their kitchen is!) 

I love this work, I love the ward, I love the church, I pretty much love everything right now, and I'm so glad that I'm here right now. I'm so glad that I decided to serve a mission!

 

Sister Sudweeks

Tornado Warnings, Snowstorms, Earthquakes, oh my!

Salutations!

Man, is it Monday already? Really? Well, that week just raced on by as usual.

I forgot to mention- it was snowing on Monday! It was 6 degrees when we left for the library! Can you say freeze warning? Sister J. and I tried to make our own bubble solution because Walmart was lame and I couldn't find their bubbles. We tried to blow bubbles using our spatulas with the little holes in them to see if they'd freeze. Turns out, the bubble solution just wanted to freeze on the spatulas themselves. Oh well!

On Tuesday it was so cold, but we still were able to go to the temple and zone training! The Atlanta Temple is so beautiful, but we forgot to take pictures in front of it! I'm so sad, but at least we'll be able to go again in six weeks and take pictures then. Hopefully, when it's not below freezing.

So we're continuing on teaching M. We saw her at least three times last week. She's progressing very quickly when in reality we've only met her nine days ago. We saw her reading the beginning of Mosiah during Sacrament meeting yesterday. If she's really read 140+ pages in nine days, she's going to be baptized in no time! She was a former Jehovah's Witness, and she's such a challenge- a good challenge. Her past beliefs are completely different than ours so we have to use a lot of scriptures to back everything up. She never even dreamed of a pre-existence, or God having a body of flesh and bone, Adam and Eve's story is different, and so is the Resurrection. I love it! 

On Wednesday we went on exchanges and we saw P. again, one of the less actives we saw in December. She's had a lot of bad toothaches, and she has a blood clot in her brain stem so her surgery keeps on getting pushed back. She has so much ambition because we wanted her to set some goals from then on out. She wants to read 1-2 chapters of the Book of Mormon each day, go to church every week, and be a great Mom for her two boys. She tried her hardest to go to church yesterday, but couldn't for some reason. But we're continuing to pray for her so she can get the strength while being in all of that pain. She's supposed to get her wisdom teeth out along with some others and she's nervous about being put under.

Wednesday night, during the end of the freeze warning- we noticed that the fountain in our apartment complex had frozen over. 

So what did we do? WALK ON WATER! 

All four of us sisters took pictures with the ice, tried to crack the ice and break pieces off, and holding the ice which caused us to numb our hands for the next few minutes or so. But it was so much fun! The next morning you could tell that we demolished the ice in the fountain and we laughed.

We're continuing on teaching L. - we taught her the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity (oh that was fun). We even asked her what makes her want to get baptized into this church, and she went on and on and on. It felt good as a missionary to hear how her testimony has grown. She even mentioned on how before the missionaries knocked on her door, something was missing although she didn't know it at the time. 

Sister J. and I went to the Addiction Recovery Program with two of our investigators the past two weeks, and can I say that this program is just so inspired, and so effective! You can go to ARP if you're angry, or addicted to certain emotions that just weigh you down, and it helps a ton. I just want to tell everyone to go to this program because you learn more about the Atonement, and you'll have a greater appreciation for it.

So, as we finished ARP Elder and Sister N. (the senior couple serving in our ward) wanted to take us home because it was around 7:45pm and already dark, but couldn't because they were taking others home. One of our investigators pleaded for us to call the sisters to have them pick us up, but they exclaimed that they'd pick us up at the station near our home. We started to walk to the train station but Elder N. stopped us, and prayed that we'd be safe and protected on our way home. We realized that this situation was serious because not one but two people had the promptings to make sure we'd be safe. We got to the train station and actually saw A., the bus driver of the gold mine bus a few weeks ago! We talked to him about the church beforehand, but only gave him a pass along card. He talked to us but he was going the opposite direction so we gave him a Restoration pamphlet and our contact information and went along our way, still paranoid and cautious. Situation after situation kept on occurring which caused us to be delayed when we were so anxious to get home. The other sister missionaries ended up not picking us up at the train station, and so we had to walk 4 blocks to get home, but we felt safe and continued. Two blocks in, we saw a car crashed on one of the medians. Apparently the car was trying to turn left, but completely missed and knocked over a sign, with their air bags deployed and everything. Sister J. and I believe that if all of those delays hadn't happened, we would have been hit by that car because it had just happened minutes before and the police officer had just arrived there. Talk about Heavenly Father looking after all of his missionaries, right?!

We tried to visit a less active in Bankhead, a place where sister missionaries aren't allowed to go without a priesthood holder past 5pm. Don't worry, we went during the afternoon. We got on a bus and noticed that this one lady was creepily staring at us. I told Sister J. and we decided it wasn't a good kind of stare. I hid behind this guy, and while I didn't know it at the time, Sister J. was staring back at her, for the ENTIRE bus ride! I didn't know if it was in my head, but I was getting a headache. Sister J. and I both thought that she was trying to curse us with some crazy voodoo. So we've therefore dubbed her as the creepy voodoo lady. 

Apparently on Saturday, there were tornado warnings because there was a HUGE rainstorm. There was lightning and thunder so loud, it actually woke me up around 4am in the morning. It was pouring rain and we didn't want to go outside at all. But we didn't even know there were tornado warnings until the day was over when a member told us! Shouldn't we be aware of any type of warnings besides freeze warnings? Then at night Sister J. was moving around a lot on the bunk bed, and I thought an earthquake was happening! So, the weather has been crazy this week! Talk about your natural disasters

We saw Sister B. again, and we found out one of her concerns about being baptized. She didn't understand the difference between her being baptized in the Baptist church, versus ours. So we had to discuss priesthood once again with various analogies. We also talked to her about prophets and the importance of them. We're thinking she doesn't have a strong testimony of the Restoration so we're going to have to re-teach that again, and get her to really pray and wait for an answer. Praying for specifics is so important! Brother B.’s back is recovering, but apparently it was bleeding Saturday night when it wasn't supposed to, so they were concerned that going to church would push it too much. He's only supposed to be sitting up for 20 minutes at a time, but since he has so much faith he pushes it way too much when he's sitting on the couch for an hour plus at a time when we visit. We don't think she's going to get baptized on the 18th, but we're hoping for the 25th!

On Sunday we were in Primary for singing and sharing time, and this 10 year old boy J. heard me sing. He kept saying that I had a really good voice, and then told Sister M. about it. He even exclaimed that I'm almost as good as Katy Perry, but not really. But it's okay! She's a professional, and I'm just a missionary! He was such a little flirt and tried to put his arm around the back of my chair, so I leaned forward to get something out of my purse. Then he told me he really liked my purse too. Oh, J... Then during the lesson they were talking about how life is like a road trip. It can be straight, but there's also curves along the way too. One of the little girls said, "I want to go to Brazil with Sister J.!' Then J. my ten year old friend said, "I want to go with Sister Sudweeks!" Kids say the darnest things.

After church, as we were leaving and walking to the train station, we saw a car flip a U-ie and stopped right where we were at the sidewalk. It was A. the bus driver! He wanted to talk to us and see if we wanted a ride to the train station! As much as we wanted to, we couldn't because it's not allowed. (Of course we didn't tell him that.) But Sister J. and I said that we'd meet him there. We weren't planning on getting on his bus, but we wanted his contact information so we called N. and D. (two other people we’re teaching) to see if we could go visit them, because they live on the bus route he drives. They never answered but he told us it'd be a pleasure if we accompanied him, so we did anyway. When it was just us on the bus, we gave him a Book of Mormon and taught him the history of it. So we're planning on teaching him again sometime this week. Totally awesome! 

Then we went home and worked on less active paperwork for almost 5 hours straight, with dinner as a break. 

Our backs were hurting so bad. Sister B. (one of the sister missionaries in our district) gave both of us back massages, and it was the most painful but effective massage I've ever gotten in my life. I can't believe how many knots I had in my back, and we're still not done with the paperwork. What we're doing is assigning every member to a missionary, and then dividing up the families by zip code. We want less active and active paperwork so we have as much information on each name as possible. Considering we have 49 pages of names, and 900 people in the ward, it's a really long process. We have to have all of this paperwork done by District Meeting Tuesday morning because that's when we're re-presenting the idea so we aren't the only ones trying to figure out why the less-actives aren't coming to church.

This week has been completely crazy, but I love every minute of it! It's sad to say, but I kinda wish P-day would just go away so we can just teach more people on Mondays, but I suppose we have to clean SOMETIME during the week! I love you all, and hope everyone is being a member missionary!

-Sister Sudweeks

Frozen Mirages

Happy New Year!

 

I honestly think that each week goes by faster and faster. The days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days.

 

So I hope you all remember C. (I know I talk about a crazy amount of people.) He's the guy that I met at Wendy's and taught the Restoration to when I was on exchanges. Well, I forgot to mention to you that I also saw him the next day (or the next?) on MARTA, and we said hello. He was getting off and we were getting on, but I didn't think much of it. Well, last week he was telling others that Sister W. and I taught him, and then he saw me on MARTA, and it must have been a sign. So, basically, I was a sign to him, isn't that cool or what?!

 

On New Years Eve, we were trying to find some less actives, and ran into Brother M. He invited us over to teach a neighbor and made us food.  I didn't know this but Sister J. is practically lactose intolerant and he forced us to eat everything on our plate, and poured us a huge glass of milk.  Sister J. was so surprised that I ate everything, because I usually do my whole 'leftover paper plate' scheme. She didn't have her lactate pills so we had to get home and we were both sick from overeating. There goes my New Years Eve! She was sick then, and I was sick on Christmas. We're just sickly sisters I guess.

 

I don’t know all of the details, but I discovered that Sister J. and I have a special assignment to help the ward with less actives. She had taken the entire ward list and divided it up into zip codes, and given it to sets of missionaries in the past, but no one was interested in doing anything about it. At our District Meeting last week, we were talking about how we could help the ward and now everyone is on board! We have to re-divide it up all over again (All 900 names, we want an active list as well with all of their information) because all of the missionaries lost all of the papers that Sister J. and F. (her former companion) put such hard work into. So now we've been doing paperwork more than ever, and visiting less actives more than ever. It’s been crazy, but great!

 

Trying to talk to potential investigators is always fun. We were trying to get E’s address over the phone. E is one of the potentials that we met on the bus that one Sunday, the gold mine bus. E. said "45 Mundi" and we had NO idea how to spell Mundi. Then she said "45 Mundi" again. Hey hey, accent barrier once again, she meant 4590! So there's that when it comes to the crazy accents here in Georgia.

 

Another funny story was that we met a guy named N., and we were talking to him on the phone and scheduled an appointment to meet with him. We said bye and he didn't hang up the phone. We heard him say, "I was talking to these 21 year old girls, they're working for God!" to his girlfriend.

 

On Saturday we actually went to N. and his girlfriend's apartment. Every time we don't know where we're going (which is a lot) we have to call MARTA assistance, tell them the address, and they'll tell us which stop to get off, which bus, and so on. Well, these directions were of no help at all. They told us to get off at the wrong place, and we got totally lost. You know how sometimes people see mirages in the desert? Well, there's a freeze warning all the way till Wednesday, and it's been in the 20s (and Sister J. said that it feels like it's in the teens if we were in Utah, gosh dang wet cold!). So, we were wandering around lost (in the morning no worries) trying to find Wellington Street. I looked in the distance and I saw Wellington Street, and we were so excited we actually ran! Of course, it wasn't Wellington, it was Westview and we mourned. It was so cold my eyes were watery and our faces were frozen, so I guess that's probably why I saw 'mirages'.

 

We taught N’s girlfriend, M. the Restoration and part of the Plan of Salvation and it was amazing, she totally ate it up and came to church on Sunday. N. isn't too interested, but he said that if it's right for her, he'll take the lessons after her. We're going to be meeting with her again on Tuesday.

 

Brother and Sister B. are doing well and still progressing. I still see her being baptized on the 18th and I couldn't be more excited about it. I love it when investigators pray at the end of each lesson because they usually pray about how grateful they are that the missionaries have come into their lives. It really makes me know that what I'm doing for the next 18 months is most definitely worth it. (I've been out for 2 months to this day, say what?!) 

 

LS has been out of town for the past week or so, so we haven't been able to teach her, and C. has been busy with the New Year. Oh well, we'll keep on trying!

 

I hope that everyone had a happy and safe New Year. Remember to make goals for every aspect of your life and keep them someplace where you can see where they are to remind you each day. I am so grateful that I have the privilege to be here on a mission!  I love you all, and remember every member is a missionary!

 

-Sister Sudweeks

 

 

 

(Don't you love this picture? I totally pretended to take it on New Years Eve to celebrate 2014. Yeah, that was taken in 2014, I won't lie.)

I Saw My Life Flash Before My Eyes!

December 30, 2013

Hey hey hey!

Man has this been a loaded week or what!

So to start it off, last P-day was pretty interesting. As I was typing up my last letter a most likely intoxicated woman ran into the library and starting to scream at this man, "You don't love me!" "Don't you remember why you were in jail?!" While holding him in a choke hold, she screamed, "I'm going to kill you!" The library volunteers were exclaiming on how they're calling the police if she doesn't leave. I kept thinking to myself, "I'M A WITNESS OF SOMETHING! I'm trying to write a spiritual thought here and this might end up on the 5 o clock news!" It was something else, but they dragged her out of the library and thankfully no police came.

Sister J. and I also made peanut clusters to make for the families that were feeding us on Christmas Eve and Day. We also gave them to our entire district, and they loved them. 

 

Four of the elders in our district are being transferred out of this area. Two of them- Elders M. and K., got jumped last week (have I said that already?) so their area is closing, and this isn't the first area that has been closed this year. Elder O. got his visa to Australia, and his companion Elder B. is leaving as well. Thankfully Sister J. hasn't gotten her visa.  I love her too much for her to leave! Later on, on P-day we were driving to visit Brother and Sister B. and we saw a police officer on the corner of the street. He was crouching over this guy on the ground in the middle of a lane. Well, it turns out that guy was dead because he was checking for his pulse and found none. Sister J. was freaking out but I wasn't since we were in the car that night. One of the new converts said he probably got shot since it was in a certain area, a few blocks from our church, how nice!

On Christmas Eve, we went to go see a less active who lives in a nursing home. Her name is M. and we try to see her every other week or so. She tells the funniest stories like how Christopher Columbus and Alexander Graham Bell were at her high school reunion! She talks for hours at a time, and she doesn't even blink if we would get up and leave without notice (which we had to do because a nurse came in and said to step out for a few minutes.) It's pretty entertaining trying to get in and out of the nursing home, since there is no gate for people who just walk there. We have to nonchalantly wait for a car to drive in, and then as they turn the corner we book it and run to make sure the gate doesn't close in on us! I laugh every time.

Also on Christmas Eve, Sisters B., W., and J., and I had a sleepover in our apartment. We had to drag up two mattresses to the 3rd story, and it was quite the workout! We all slept in the living room and it was great, minus the fact that I woke up with a huge headache. We had cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and opened our presents. We had a lunch with the entire district at Elder and Sister N.’s apartment (the senior couple serving in our ward), and took some pictures with the district. I'd send it but my eyes are SO red and I look completely evil! We went to a member’s home so Sister J. could Skype her family on Christmas Day, (I Skyped with my family Christmas Eve which was great!) while Sister G. told me stories about her mission. We went to the B's for Christmas Dinner, and tried to put the thought of being baptized in Sister B’s head once more. We got inspiration on how to ask her to be baptized that night, so we implemented that the next time we saw her—which was Saturday.

Saturday was the best day ever! We went to go see the B’s, and we had prepared on committing Sister B. to baptism. I haven't mentioned a key part of their family, but they have a dog named Karma who is part pit. They are trying to get rid of her because she is SUCH a bad dog. She's ruined so many of my tights by trying to bite me. The spirit is never there because she's always jumping on or biting someone. But we prayed fervently that she'd be calm for this visit, and she was completely knocked out underneath the table. Blessings! 

Sister J. got a present from her grandma- A little wooden box. Inside there was a story called "Christmas Is Love", and I really encourage you all to look it up, it's the sweetest story. Then we wrote our testimonies and put it in the box as well. Sister B. read all three of them and she started to cry considering the spirit was so strong in their home. We had her read Mosiah 18:8-10 as well, and she told us that she knew that the church was true, and she doesn't know what was holding her back. Her husband bore testimony to her about how she almost died in the hospital with her gall bladder infection, and how much it scared him to almost lose her so he really wants her to get baptized. There were tears everywhere as we both bore testimony about how she would gain so many blessings from being baptized. She committed for January 18th and it was a miracle. 

We also saw L., who I haven't mentioned before because she now lives outside of our area and MARTA can't reach her. But she's house sitting for a member in the ward so we've been able to teach her in person instead of over the phone. She also is committed to baptism on the 18th, and it may even get bumped because she is so ready! These two amazing woman are so solid, I can't wait for the next year. January 18th can't come fast enough!

We saw C. and LS. this week, sorta. C. was very antsy and she no longer has a baptism date, and we think something is wrong. She didn't keep her commitments so she's no longer progressing. We tried to go see LS. and she wasn't home, and hasn't been home for a few days but should be home by today. We might go try to see her tomorrow or Wednesday to see how she's doing.

Since it was pouring one night, the other sisters picked us up so we wouldn't have to travel home in the rain. They had to stop by and see someone and Sister J. and I stayed in the car. There was a truck somewhat next to us, and they were leaving and backing up. They did it HORRIBLY because they were getting closer and closer to our car. They were literally coming straight for us and I almost grabbed Sister J. because the truck was coming right at her. I saw my life flash before my eyes because the truck was SO close, I thought I was going to die on my mission! Thankfully, it stopped and as it went by they said, "Sorry!" Yeah, I bet they were sorry...

Sunday we were able to substitute the 4 year old Sunbeam class in Primary, it was the cutest thing ever because a little girl named N. kept asking for my autograph. Another four year old girl named O. wanted to play the missionary game while wearing our name tags and carrying our planners around. I miss Primary so much and singing all of the primary songs! We're substituting for another class on the 12th so that will be fun!

I hope that you all had an amazing Christmas, and that you at least tried to have a missionary moment last week eh, eh, eh? I hope you all have a Happy New Year!

-Sister Sudweeks