80 Degree Christmas! (Just like home)

Hey y’all! Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and is looking forward to this new year ahead! Christmas was amazing this year. It truly is so neat to be focusing on nothing but the Savior and having no distractions from the world. I feel truly blessed to be serving here in the Florida Tallahassee Mission. It is the best mission in the world! 

This week we have been updating and mapping like crazy! It’s been good and super productive. One of my favorite things this week was that we taught a new investigator, Kathy, and had an amazing lesson with her about the Holy Ghost being our constant companion. The spirit was so strong during that lesson and she really knew what we were testifying of was true. It was AMAZING. (even though her crazy cat was crawling all over me and I am not a fan of cats at all ha...) It went well! She wants to make it to church next Sunday so fingers crossed! 

We have been able to sing and carol a ton this week. Music is an amazing way to invite the spirit and it touches lots of hearts here in the south. I am so grateful Sister Carter likes to sing just as much as I do! 

We sang a duet at our half mission Christmas conference and I played guitar as well. The song we performed is called, “Under Bethlehem Skies”, and it’s BEAUTIFUL, so definitely look it up if you get a chance :)

Skyping home on Christmas day was UNREAL. I love my family so much. It was the best gift I could ever ask for and I am so grateful! Tears were shed for sure. 

Today our zone went to the beach in Panama City and we played volleyball and football. We then all went shopping for a bit, which is why I am writing a short email because #NOTIME.  It was almost 90 degrees...haha Merry Christmas whoooo!

Well, I love you all and will write next week. Thank you for all the love and prayers. I pray for y’all daily! 

Sending love from the Sunshine State,

Sister Fletcher

Christmas Day

BEACHHHH

Christmas Conference

Christmas Eve

THIS is true happiness!

Hi friends, Merry Christmas!!!

First things first. I have a new official address:

2401 Stanford Rd. #503

Panama City, FL 32405

This week has been amazing. I am the happiest I have been on my mission. Whitewashing into an area is pretty stressful and we have felt lots of discouragement over random things this week, but all in all, I am happy as can be! Sister Carter, my new companion, is amazing! She is a stellar missionary and I am just learning tons & tons from her.  She goes home at the end of this transfer so I’m bummed that I have to be the one to kill her but we will kill it this transfer! 

Lynn haven, Florida, is a DREAM !! I absolutely love it. It is a pretty big city and there is every restaurant you could ever imagine here....including sushi (yeah! I’m pretty pumped). Sister Carter and I joke that we are in New York City because when we walk out of our apartment, it literally looks like Central Park with the leaves on the ground, this huge beautiful building across the way and a fountain in the center.  So yeah, we are actually in New York, who knew?? 

We have been running around like crazy people this week, doing “office work”. We have been trying to get a new map and whiteboards to track our investigators. We also have had to update the GPS in our car and do a lot of planning. I am learning patience but we both understand this is important and needs to be done, so pretty soon, we will be able to see and teach lots of people! 

The Lynn Haven ward is amazing. This is known as the "celestial ward" in the mission, meaning it’s just amazing.  It is such a missionary minded ward. Members are wanting to come out and teach with us and that is attributed to a lot of the success here in this area. Member missionary work is SO important. It furthers the work so much more. I feel a little intimidated and inadequate from time to time, but it's OK. I know Heavenly Father trusts me enough to be here and I will not let Him down. It just motivates me to want to be as obedient and diligent has possible! I just feel sooo spoiled and sooo blessed to be here. 

A lady in the ward we met last week, Pamela, got baptized on Saturday! We feel so lucky to have been a part of this and to teach her as a recent convert now. Her baptism was one of the most spiritual I have ever attended, especially when Pamela received the gift of the Holy Ghost. After the baptism, she kept calling us her daughters and saying that she is not the same person anymore. She feels as though angels are surrounding her and that her thoughts are not the same as they were. The spirit was incredibly strong. It’s amazing that we can all have the gift of the Holy Ghost with us always, through the proper priesthood authority. Heavenly Father just loves us so much. 

We went Christmas caroling on Thursday night and it was so fun. I just feel so blessed to be here serving the Lord during this Christmas season. I should always focus on Christ fully during Christmas, but being here on a mission truly allows you do that 100%. It is amazing the difference. This Christmas I am trying to focus not on the gifts, but on the giver, on Jesus Christ, on His life and his atoning sacrifice. We have been able to do a lot of service this week. On Friday we served at a warehouse for the Salvation Army. We got to "shop" for children in need and it was so much fun getting to know the children through their information on a piece of paper. This coming Tuesday, we get to go back to the warehouse and give the presents out to the children’s parents. I am SO excited. I just feel so humbled. 

I am just so happy. Happiness doesn't always come naturally, it is something you have to work at. It is also a process, a journey, but when you CHOOSE to be happy, you truly can be, no matter what your circumstance is. Heavenly Father is cheering us on and just wants us to be happy. We can feel more happiness than we have ever known simply because of our Savior Jesus Christ. He felt pain and sorrow so we don’t have to! So, celebrate Christ this Christmas season. He is who matters. He is the gift. He is the light of the world!

I love you all.  Have a very Merry Christmas!

<3

sister fletcher

Sister Carter and me!

Said bye to Theresa and her cute family

One of my favorite families
in the DeFuniak Ward, The Wykles!

Gunna miss my district!

Tammy!

The Williams
They are amazing!

Sister Reeves
I love her so much!
Good-byes are so hard!

Sister Hall
I love and miss her so much!

Little girls in the ward
wrote this on a chalkboard.
They haven't had sister missionaries
in a year so everyone is pretty excited!

We <3 Jenna!

Pamela's baptism

TRANSFERS!!!

Hey guys! GUESS WHAT. I am being transferred AGAIN. I am going to Lynn Haven in the Panama City Beach Zone. I am super excited but slightly nervous since I will be whitewashing (when two new missionaries from two different previous areas come in) with my new companion! It’ll be a good time :) I am so excited for Christmas and the chance to Skype my family. I love my family SO much. 

I’m sorry I don’t have a ton of time since I will be packing and saying my goodbyes today. It is SO sad to say bye to people who hold such a special place in your heart, and I feel like I just did it! but it’s ok, more people in the world to love.  I’ve gained many new friends and I know Jesus Christ's gospel will continue to roll forth in Defuniak.

I hope you guys are really lighting the world this Christmas and spreading the light inside of you. It is truly contagious. It is amazing how something small that we do to help someone can completely make their day or change their outlook. I have seen it time and time again on my mission. Today, the theme is "Jesus Taught Others and So Can You." Teach them the gospel! Teach them about Heavenly Father's plan of happiness for each and every one of His children. It will bless your life and others, I promise.

I love you all! I will definitely write more next week :)

xoxo,

sister fletcher

Santa Clause (aka Brother Pollard)
MY FAVORITE HUMAN

Made this cute angel ornament

The Reeves' Farm
(My fav fam in the ward)

Ward Christmas Party

Our cute Christmas tree!

Our ward mission leader,
Brother Strippling

Sisters Conference

Light the World!

My dear friends,

I don't have a ton of time this week, so here's some pictures :) I hope y'all are lighting the world this Christmas. The church has put out amazing videos about how you can serve like Jesus did. Go to Mormon.org & check it out!

I just want to quickly share my testimony of my Savior, Jesus Christ. I know that He loves us all, whether we feel like we deserve it or not and that we can not sink any lower than where He can't reach us. He wants to pick us up and carry us home.

This week I have been trying to understand what you really must to do apply the Atonement of Jesus Christ in your life. It stems from us being worthy and being willing to obey in all things. I know that Christ will literally take our brokenness and make it into something that we could never imagine we would become. He has proved to me time and time again how much I need him, and how I cannot do this on my own. As I have been praying this week, I have been reflecting on the fact that Heavenly Father's WHOLE focus is on ME as I pray. The second I say those words, "My Dear Heavenly Father", He is all ears. He is just waiting to wrap His arms around me. Man, I love my Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ so much. They get me through everything. I am also so appreciative of my family and their unfailing love for me.

I invite you all to check out Mormon.org and look for ways to serve like the Savior did. Have a great week and a Merry Christmas season :)

<3 love,

sister fletcher

Sisters Conference
These are the sisters who came with me
to the Florida Tallahassee Mission
6 months ago

Love them!

Sister Housel
My lovely MTC companion

Wrapping Christmas presents

Doing service
(I LOVE SERVICE)

The bread truck!

We had a huge bonfire
Saturday night!

Wayne
He is getting baptized
on Christmas Eve! AHHH

Pizza roasting on
an open fire!

This place makes me feel
like I'm in a
Nicholas Sparks movie!

Our friend, Tammy

Our Zone!

Fed a goat, then ate that goat...Happy Thanksgiving from the South!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We sure did.  We went to three different members' homes.  People are so kind here in the Funky Shack.  We went to the Everetts' first and fed their baby goats and it was SO fun. Then later for lunch, we ate one of their goats for Thanksgiving. It was so sad...they smothered it in BBQ sauce and it didn't taste too bad.  It's just sad that we literally ate the goat right after we were just feeding it. hahaha. 

On Wednesday we had zone training in Niceville and Sister Dominique and I trained on obedience through love. I love this concept. Being obedient on a mission is really important, as well as being obedient off a mission. We focused on the WHY to obedience. Why do we do these things? Is it just because our mission president tells us to? The perfect example of obedience through love is Jesus Christ. In Matthew 26:39, Christ is suffering through the Atonement for us. He says to Heavenly Father: "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." Jesus Christ suffered and bled and died for US because he loves US and he loves His Father. He was obedient to God not just because that was what he had to do, but because he loves us so much. So, I have learned how much I need to give up my own desires and my own will for Heavenly Father's will. THAT is exact obedience.  We follow Him because we love Him. So, what drives y’all to be obedient? Why do you follow Heavenly Father every day? I invite you to think about that more deeply this week :)

On Friday we had our whole day set and planned out with people to see. On our way out the door, we received the saddest phone call from a man in the ward, Brother Anderson, who had just been in a car accident with his wife in West Virginia while they were visiting family. His voice was shaking and he asked us for the Elders’ phone number who are serving there so they could go to the hospital to give his wife a blessing. He wasn't hurt too bad but his wife was not doing well at all. We rushed over to a member’s home who lives close by to help us track down the phone number.   The member called them and left a message and we went on our way, hoping and praying the elders would hear the message soon so they could give Sister Anderson a priesthood blessing. We then went to a few investigator's homes to teach and no one was home! Even our backups weren't available. Right as we were about to go door-to-door tracting, we thought we should call the West Virginia elders just in case they hadn’t gotten the message. We found out the phone number actually belonged to the Elders in UTAH. Frustrated and panicked, we called Brother Anderson explaining what had happened and that we were trying to get the right phone number.  Instead of waiting, he decided he wanted to do something called a proxy priesthood blessing. We met our elders at the church and I was able to stand in for his sweet wife as they gave me the blessing in proxy for her.  We had Brother and Sister Anderson on the phone and you could hear them crying throughout the whole blessing. It was SO sad but it is amazing how much faith they have.  I know everything will be OK, according to God's plan. It was just great how everything worked out so we could be there at the church to perform this proxy blessing for them. God's timing is perfect and he works in incredible, mysterious ways. 

Saturday was one of the best days on my mission. Our investigator Teresa is SO excited about baptism. She is getting baptized on Dec.10^th.  The way her eyes lit up from excitement about the covenant she is making with God, wow! It was amazing and indescribable. I can’t wait for her and her two little boys, who now, because of this decision, will be able to grow up in this gospel! Sister Dominique and I left the lesson, grinning from ear to ear. I have never been so happy for someone!

Well, life is good in the Defuniak Hood :) haha. I love you all and am grateful for your prayers and sweet spirits. Missions are pretty hard but SO worth it. There is truly nowhere else I would rather be.

love,

sister fletcher 

Cute baby goat!

The Mook girls
(And YES...I AM holding
a cat.  For those who know
me well, know how I hate cats,
so this is a HUGE accomplishment!)

Fall!

Brick roads of DeFuniak!

Cooked baby goat

Wittle's baby puppy

Miss Flora B

Teresa's baptism calendar!

This baby is ONE year old!
She is precious!

Dinner!