I'm burning in Georgia!

 
                              

Wow I can't believe just last week it was in the 20s! This week the high was 90! Geez make up your mind Georgia!! Haha well this week was kind of crazy. Actually lemme rephrase that, it was super crazy.

First, our baptism fell through because the morning of her baptismal interview she called us and informed us she was on her way to the emergency room because her head hurt so bad. We fasted and prayed all day for her safety, and later in the afternoon she called us and let us know she was safe and okay but her doctor was having her wait to a baptized until she felt better. So hopefully that will be soon. Please keep her in your prayers!

Also, a couple days before that crazy event, unfortunately a sister in our area went home, and since we were the only trio, the mission president called and asked Hermana Bailey to move to be in the English area. She was devastated, especially because this is her second to last transfer and she loves the branch and spanish so much. But she was such an amazing example to me throughout the whole thing. She never once complained, and she had a great attitude about it. She's such a fantastic missionary, I'm so grateful for her and the chance to have been her companion even if it was just for a few weeks. Plus she is still in our district so I'll still be seeing her around. :)

This week we also had zone conference, and it was so cool!! I loved hearing everyone's testimonies and getting to learn from President Bennion and his sweet wife. They are such powerful leaders and I have learned so much from them!! I am so grateful for them. 

I know I say this every week, but I am so grateful for this opportunity. I have drawn so much closer to Jesus Christ. He is my friend, my brother, and my Savior. I know that He loves each one of us so much. I am so grateful for His sacrifice. I'm so grateful for my family and the sacrifices they are making to help me be here. You all are such great examples to me. Thank you for all the love and support, y'all are the best.

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Frank

I'm freezin in Georgia

Hola familia y amigos!

This week has been so full of blessings, I don't even know where to start!

I guess I'll start with first, we have someone on date to be baptized this week! Her name is Macaria and she is such an amazing woman! She is so sweet and always thinking of us, constantly giving us food and she even gave us shampoo last time we met with her! Alright alright Macaria we can take a hint...Hahaha just kidding. She's just so giving and if she has any extra, she wants to give it to people! We are so excited to have her in the branch and so excited for her to be baptized and receive so many blessings!! Yay!

This week I was also super grateful for my mom who made me bring some fleece tights, because this week was sooooo cold! It was in the 20s and we were totally bundled up and it was still cold! This humidity, man, I tell ya. But don't worry now it's in the 70s again. I'm starting to think georgia is even more bipolar than utah! 

Anyways, we met a woman this week named Maria Lucia. The first time we met her, we helped her carry in her groceries and she immediately let us in. We have continued to meet with her, and she let us know that the same day we met her, she was praying asking if God was there and if He loved her and then she met us! And she knew we were answers! It was so cool! God really is looking out for us! 

This week I also had the opportunity to throw it way back to the 7th grade and help a recent convert do her homework so she could go to the young women's activity and get her temple recommend at the church. She went to the temple this Saturday for the first time and hearing about their experience made racking my brain trying to figure out 7th grade science so worth it. 

Also, we learned a lot about new contact approaches to use when knocking doors or meeting new people on the streets at our last zone meeting. This week ,we focused a lot on finding by the Spirit and using the new tips we had been taught at zone conference. We knocked on a woman's door and used a cool approach in which we told her we were sharing a message about how much God loves us all. We showed her the front facing camera, so she saw herself, and asked, what do you think when you see this? Her whole face instantly lit up and when we shared d&c 18:10 with her she loved it! We got a return appointment for the English sisters and when we were leaving she said, "and by the way guys, that was a really good approach!" Haha it was cool to see our hard work and determination to try the new things we had learned pay off.

I absolutely love this work, and feel more and more blessed each day to have this wonderful calling and opportunity.  I love my God and my Savior Jesus Christ with all my heart and I am so grateful for the blessing in my life of the true gospel. I love sharing this message with everyone! Thank you all for your love and support, I love the emails and the testimonies and examples you all are to me. I hope you guys have a wonderful week!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Frank

Bowling after baptisms

Allison's first zone in Atlanta Georgia

Hola familia y amigos!

I've officially been out for more than two months! That's so crazy to me! The saying really is true, time flies when you're having fun! And this week has been so much fun. I've seen so many miracles and had so many laughs with my companions.

First, I wanna tell y'all about Robel. He is one of the most amazing people I have had the opportunity to meet here. The elders are teaching him so we hadn't met him until one day we were studying and he walked into the church and introduced himself. He started telling us about how he met the elders and how when he was younger he went to so many different churches because his mom was saying that they were evil one week and the right church the next week. He was always confused and searching for the truth. When he met the elders, he immediately knew it was the truth. Then he invited us to come to his baptism after party and to come bowling. Haha he's awesome. It's so cool to see people like that it reminds me of Joseph Smith! People are searching for the truth, and when they finally find it it's so inspiring to see how happy and faithful they are.

Another cool thing this week was we had two return appointments with investigators and at each one we got a new investigator! The first one, we are now teaching her daughter too and the second one we are teaching her sister too! We are super excited about that.

This work is a little slow going in this area, and this week has been a lot of tracting but like I said before, we got some new investigators at lessons and a few more from tracting so hopefully it picks up. We are trying our very best to find more people to teach and it's so fun to meet so many different people. And there's so many people from so many different cultures, and I've been using spanish a lot more tracting and meeting people than I thought I would here in the US! It's truly such a blessing to have this calling. Even though the work is slow, I know that the Lord is preparing people and it's our job to find them! It's a huge responsibility, but I am so grateful for it!

Also, I got a cool thought of the week for y'all. What are three things God doesn't know? A person He doesn't love, a sin that He likes, and a son or daughter who can't change. Interesting huh? I really like it because it describes the love God has for us and the trust He has in us to change and come unto Him.

One of my favorite pictures is the picture of Christ at the door without the doorknob because it is so true. I love testifying to people of the love God and Christ have for us because they love us so much and are just waiting for us to open the door and let them in. I know that God loves us all so much and is just waiting for us with His arms stretched wide, but it is our job to come unto Him.

I love this work and I love you all so much! Have a great week!

Con mucho amor,
Hermana Frank

Seek and ye shall find, knock and people will think you're immigration

Hola!!

Well, I can't believe it, but another week has flown by in good ol georgia! The weather is perfect right now, not too hot or humid, it feels just like spring and looks like it with all the trees blooming, it's so beautiful! I hope you all are doing well!

This week has been super awesome, and I've started picking up more spanish which is good! Last week was super overwhelming, but now I feel like I can understand a little more of what people are saying which is good. It's a little weird learning spanish in the states because we really only speak Spanish when we are at church or with members or investigators. And sometimes tracting. Which talking about tracting, we did a lot of this week! It's super hard to tract because so often Hispanics here are scared to open their doors because they think we are immigration. But when they have opened, they have usually been very welcoming and have wanted to hear more. 

I have been super grateful for my companions this week. They are both so amazing! They each have such a powerful testimony, and they are so good at sharing it with people wherever! In the store, on porches, even at stoplights! I'm not even kidding, Hermana Bailey got out of her car and shared a card with some guys in the car next to us and invited them to church! Hahaha they are also both so great at spanish and helping me out lots.

I've also been super grateful for the amazing faith of the members and investigators here. One investigator doesn't have much, and was embarrassed about coming to church because she didn't have skirts. We told her she didn't need to be embarrassed, but she was still nervous so we started asking around for some skirts to give to her. Then later that week she called us super excited, and told us that she gets two free outfits from a charity every month, and this week she got two skirts and was so excited to wear them to church! It's so amazing to see her faith and humbleness.

This Sunday I had the opportunity to teach primary again, and it was so much fun! I love teaching the kids, they are so cute! After church we then had a less active come to the church and we helped her with her work and gave her a short poweful lesson. However when we were done with everything (cleaning up, mingling, getting blessings, and teaching), we realized it was 8:15 and we were still fasting....we still had one more appointment though so we went to visit them, and she gave us some cake and jello! We finally got home around 9 and we broke our fast and ate the cake and jello. Haha it was delicious. Super healthy too.

Anyways, thank you all for all your emails and letters. I love hearing from you all and am so grateful for your amazing examples! 

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Frank