Transfers!!!

This week I am getting transferred! Super bittersweet because I love Fairhope with my whole heart, but change is always good. I am going to DeFuniak Springs, Florida. It’s in the Fort Walton Beach Zone. I have heard it’s pretty much in the boonies, in the middle of nowhere. I’m stoked! I’m excited to meet my new companion, Sister Dominique on Wednesday and to just have a change :) Today and tomorrow I have to say a lot of goodbyes which is never any fun...

This week was so good but I really have like no time :( sorry I’m so lame!) I will write lots next week. I hope you all have a Happy Halloween! love y'all!

p.s. I will post my new address next week.

<3 sister fletcher

Trunk or Treat!

Derriya

Farmers Market

Debbie and Molly

Beautiful Bama

Amelia 

Chris

Fall in Bama LOL 

Dimples

"It was such a warm feeling, even with the air conditioner blasting!"

Hey y'all!

How is everybody? I miss you all! This week...has been a week, haha, but we had lots of cool things happen! I don't have too much time.  We are going to help the elders move a family out today :)

So last Wednesday we went out to lunch with a member and for some odd reason, I felt an overwhelming feeling to ask for a cup of ice. Weird right?? But you can't ignore a prompting, so on the way out, I asked the waitress for ice. After leaving the restaurant, we walked up to a homeless lady, Missy, who sits outside the public library. We talked for a minute and then she asked me what was in my hand.  I said, "Ice! but I have no idea why." (as I let out a chuckle) She then started to cry. She proceeded to tell us that the library doesn’t allow her to come in to get water anymore and she had been praying and praying for some ice. I told her how I had received a small prompting from the Holy Ghost to get some ice from the restaurant we were at, but at the time, I didn’t understand why.  She was so grateful that I acted on that prompting. We had the most awesome conversation with her about all kinds of things and ended up teaching the Plan of Salvation. It was such a cool experience!

We have been carving lots of pumpkins this week with members during p-day and our lunch hours.  It’s been a lot of fun! Halloween is coming and I can’t wait :) What are y’all going to be??? The weather has also been getting a lot cooler in the mornings and evenings and I am so grateful for that! 

Yesterday we had a lesson with our recent convert Virgil and we asked him to remember what he felt when he first found out the Book of Mormon was true.  He described it in the best way, "It was such a warm feeling, even with the air conditioner blasting!" I loved that! It’s so true.  Reading the Book of Mormon brings a feeling like nothing else. The Spirit testifies of its truth, and God speaks peace to your mind.

We have been biking everywhere because our car is in the shop until Tuesday and I love it :) With biking comes a lot more opportunities to stop and talk to people on the way. We have met lots of awesome people this week and picked up a few new ones to teach the gospel to.

Angela is still set to get baptized on November 19th. She came to church again yesterday and laid her head on my shoulder and said: "You are like a big sister to me and I love you so much." AHH, it killed me! I love her so much. She is really progressing in the gospel and can’t wait to get baptized. I am so excited for her and the commitment she is about to make with God. The Holy Ghost will be such an amazing thing for her in her life. 

I just wanted to say how grateful I am for the Holy Ghost and the promptings we can receive. I have felt it work so much on my mission, multiple times a day. I am so grateful for this gift and for the beautiful opportunity I have to share this true gospel with God's children here in Fairhope, Alabama. It's my favorite place to be! I am also so grateful for the Book of Mormon. Read it. Ponder it. Pray about it. If you do these things with a sincere heart, with complete real intent, I KNOW you will come to find it’s true. It’s all about your intentions. 

I love you all so much.  Thank you for being my faithful email readers! Take care, and I'll talk to y'all next week :)

Love,

sis fletcher

Pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins!!

Angela  :))

Our friend, Montez

Last P-day we carved
Angel Moroni and Joseph Smith
on our pumpkins!
#missionarylife

Cute little alleyway in Fairhope!

<3

Snow in Alabama?!?!

Hi y'all!

So, I'm sorry if my subject is a little deceiving...there isn't actual snow but the cotton is blooming and being harvested everywhere and it sure looks like snow! It’s beautiful :)

This week has been a good one. I can’t believe I’ve almost been on my mission for five months...time is such a crazy thing. So a couple cool things happened this week.  We were at our investigator Monir's house, teaching him out on the porch and about 45 minutes into the lesson when we were wrapping things up, a guy came and pulled in his driveway. He says: "Monir, man! how are you??....Oh sorry, I’ll let you guys get back to church." We laughed and said, "Hey, what’s your name?" He said: "Dewayne, I used to meet with y’all a few months back!" (side note- I have heard ALL about Dewayne and read his teaching record multiple times but he changed his address and phone number a while back and the sisters who used to teach him lost contact with him). Anyways, then he asked us to come over the next day and said right then and there that he would come to church next week. It was so awesome! The Lord definitely leads us and puts us where we need to be, all you gotta do is listen to the Spirit.

I was able to throw the football with some kids on the street which then led to meeting their moms and getting return appointments. Football softens hearts, guys :))  We went to the Daphne High School football game to direct parking and it was so fun! We got to go in and see the half-time show and a little part of the game.  It brought back so many memories from high school and cheer, good times :')

We had stake conference this week too, and Elder Gaverette from The Seventy came to speak to us!  That afternoon, three of the recent converts in our ward were ordained to the Melchizedek priesthood. It was such a special experience to be there!

I just wanted to say how true this gospel is, and how true the Book of Mormon is. It will bring you closer to God than ANY other book! I have seen it in investigator's lives, and I have seen it in my own. I love you all so much :) Have a great week!

Our cute friend, Alliyah :)

Derriya!

Cotton fields

Football game

Bill

Sister Mills at a
Relief Society activity

Sister Pete and me

One of my favorite members here,
Kimberly, (middle) went to Utah this week
and visited with my two aunts,
Karlene (right) and Kim (left).

Pumpkin Spice EVERYTHING!

Hey everybody! Fall is coming here in the south and I am too excited about it :))

This week has been so awesome. So I have been reflecting a lot on change and how amazing it really is. When I filled out my mission papers in January, never did I think I would be where I am or who I am today; being here in Bama, learning what I have learned, is nothing I expected it to be. You always hear about how much people change on a mission, but I thought it was a different kind of change. Being here for over four months, I'm still the same, sarcastic, crazy Marissa, but, I'm a more mature, loving, and understanding Sister Fletcher, with bigger hopes, dreams and goals, and a much more eternal perspective than before. It’s truly amazing, change. I have learned that if you give God your weaknesses and all your shortcomings, you are stripped bare for a while and it’s painful but soon, after much prayer and pleading, something incredible starts to happen. God literally begins to mold you into someone you never thought possible you could become. You start to love much deeper, you start to desire for others needs above your own, you begin to apply the Atonement of Jesus Christ much more in your life. Your patience with others and yourself grows and you become much more motivated to work as hard as you possibly can to help God's children. You truly come to learn that living this gospel of Jesus Christ brings more happiness than anything else because you've seen the difference in the lives of those you teach. God loves his children, God loves YOU and I. SO, welcome change. Change is beautiful. God wants us to change because he sees our potential and knows our worth. It may seem overwhelming at times, and trust me, learning to change and become more like Christ is a lifetime pursuit but one action and decision at a time, we can become more like Him.

All right, my rant is over. I'm just so grateful for my mission so far, man.  A general authority, Elder Sitati, came to our mission for a conference this past Friday and it was great! I was fortunate to be one of the missionaries to have an interview with him. He is such a faithful, inspiring man and I was able to learn a lot more about the Atonement of Jesus Christ during that conference and to see lots of my mission friends!

My favorite recent convert here, Linda, celebrated her birthday this week. My companion and I and the elders threw her a party and it was lots of fun! Things kept spilling everywhere and it was pretty hilarious, like the blender exploded in the middle of making a smoothie and one of the elders dropped a liter of coke all over the floor....sorry random side note, it was just hilarious.

So our investigator Angela is still set to get baptized but her date is now officially November 19th. Cool story, so Linda comes out with us to a lot of her lessons and she loves Angela a lot because she reminds her of her daughter who passed away at the age of 17. Linda's daughter was born on November 19th so we thought it would be so cool to have Angela's baptism that day, a rebirth for her, on the same day as Linda's daughter's birthday :)  Also, Linda's husband, Doug who is like my second dad, is baptizing Angela, and side note, he is getting the Melchizedek priesthood this week. I have never met someone so excited to receive it.  It truly is so humbling. November 19th will be a beautiful day!

Well that's about it. I love you all! I hope you guys have a great week and I'm so grateful for this gospel in my life! Man I love my life :)

xoxo,

sister fletcher

Me holding an alligator! 

Elder Sitati

Sister Jackson and me

Alligator Alley

Check it out!

Beautiful Alabama!

Mamma Quinnelly 

Sister P and me 

The art walk with Linda and Doug

Barefoot in Bama

This week has been a good one :) Lots of fun, lots of lessons, lots of meeting new people. If you are wondering why my title is what it is, I just wanted to mention that one thing I have really noticed here in Bama is that everyone walks around everywhere barefoot. I love it so much hahaha. Life is so great here!

So, we have an investigator named Angela who missionaries have been visiting for a quite a while. She told us the most amazing news this week. She said: "You guys, all I want is to be baptized!" Her eyes lit up and so did mine. We are planning it for October 29th, and I know God will prepare her to be ready for that date. 

We have done lots of service this week! Service is so fun, especially when it’s unplanned. We mowed a few lawns, moved a few beds, and hung some Halloween decorations. We also would just do little things like fill up an older man's gas tank for him, or bring all the carts in at Walmart. I have grown to love serving so much more since coming out on my mission and I know that doing acts of service will be something I try to do much more of when I come home! Serving simply makes you feel good because you are making someone else feel good :)

So my companion has a ukulele and I have had so much fun playing it this past week. The elders in my district know how to play too, so we’ve been playing lots today! We’ve been learning church hymns so we can play during lessons and stuff :)

Well, I hope y'all had a chance to watch conference this past weekend! It was amazing. I have always heard watching it as a missionary is the best, and it truly is. You watch with such a different perspective and you watch with not just yourself in mind, but also your investigators. It was so cool how many thoughts from the spirit came to my mind about our investigators and their needs. All the talks were great, but I would have to say my favorite was Elder Russell M. Nelsons'. He taught us about joy, and how saints can choose to be happy under any circumstance; it simply has to do with the focus in our lives. Jesus Christ IS joy, that joy comes from and because of Him and we can learn and gain a better understanding of how to suffer with joy, because our suffering can be swallowed up in the joy of Christ. This does not mean that all our problems will disappear and that we will not have trials and hard times ahead but we can control how we react to them, that we can ultimately choose our happiness during every situation. 

I love you all so much! Have a great week and send me a quick hello if y’all have time :)

lots of love,

sister fletcher

 

Me and Sister P

When members love you!

Damaris, one of our investigators

Facial party!

Watching conference

Eva <33