Sister Fletcher in the Florida, Tallahassee Mission: All is well in DeFuniak:))

Hey y'all! This week has been absolutely nuts. Pretty crazy things went down. (which I will talk about in a year when I come home ;))

The work is progressing so much in this area and it’s amazing :) God's hand truly is in His children's lives here in DeFuniak. So on Wednesday, we drove by these apartments in Freeport (the town over from DeFuniak). Sister Dominique and I noticed a lady sitting against the sign of the apartments and what we specifically noticed was how sad she looked. We turned our car around, got out and asked her if there was anything we could do for her. I had my guitar in the back seat of our car so we played her "Nearer My God To Thee" as she waited for her five year-old grandson to get off the school bus. She then invited us to come in to her apartment and we were able to teach her the restoration of the gospel right then and there. It was such a powerful, spirit-led lesson. We found out she had recently moved here from Iowa and had just left her husband of over forty years. She said she needs God in her life and knows that this gospel will help her. It was truly amazing.

We have an investigator named Teresa who is SO awesome. We taught her the Word of Wisdom this week and she was SO incredibly accepting of it. At the end of the lesson, she said, "Take my coffee! I’m done drinking it!" Teresa is GOLDEN. She is set to get baptized on December 3rd and loves attending church. It is so amazing too because she has two little boys who can now grow up in the gospel and experience the blessings that come. I am so excited for her and her family :) This gospel blesses families immensely and it is not until coming on my mission that I have truly been able to see the difference for those who have not been exposed to the gospel and then have the opportunity to learn of the gospel. It’s amazing to see how they are so much happier because of it. I am so grateful for my parents and all they did to keep my family on the gospel path. Having a gospel-centered home is so much more important to me now. Family Home Evenings every Monday night, scripture study, and family prayer is so essential, especially in the world we live today.

One of my favorite families here, the Reeves, own thousands of acres and tons of animals. Brother Reeves has a contract with a bakery and gets hundreds of loaves of bread and bagels every week to feed to his hogs. Every Thursday, the elders, Sister Dominique and I load the bread into barrels. It’s pretty fun :) Brother Reeves supplies us with whatever bread we want! haha. We have also taken care of the horses for a while. (they own 14!) It’s SO much fun. They have also fed us a seafood FEAST. People are so selfless and giving here, I truly feel so humbled every day. Oh, here’s a side story about the Reeves. They have a daughter who lives in Fairhope (my old area) named Alison Kidd and her 12- year-old daughter, Tucker, is not baptized yet. I actually taught Tucker! It is really cool now knowing Tucker's grandparents. They are having us over for Thanksgiving and Alison's family is coming too, so I am really excited to see them!

So Friday was a crazy day. We had a lesson with a lady and went in her home when we both knew we shouldn't have because the Spirit was telling us not to. That was the first time I’ve ignored a prompting from the Spirit and felt the repercussions from it. (I’ve repented, don't worry.) Anyways, we had a really crazy experience in that home, and then when we left, we went to the elders home for them to give us priesthood blessings. We then went on our way to teach more lessons. When the day was over, we came home and started planning for the upcoming day. All the sudden, we heard loud banging on our front door. We both panicked. NO ONE knows where the missionaries live and no one should be coming to our house that late at night. We live on a street with only one other home and we were just terrified. The person banging on the door kept turning the knob trying to break in. We were shaking from fear. As sister Dominique called 911, the phone reception was breaking in and out but we were finally able to tell our address. As we were on the phone, the banging started happening on the windows and on our back door. I felt completely sick inside. We got a little closer to the door, accepting our fate that we would probably die in that moment… but then, we heard our names called out. We looked through the peep hole to see the elders standing there with cake and pizza...we were SOOOO mad, but it was pretty hilarious. The cops pulled up and luckily just laughed about it all. So the moral of the story is...don't call the cops on the elders, or do, because they are dumb and deserve it!

I wanted to end with a few verses in 1 Peter chapter 4:

v.2 That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.

v.12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing has happened unto you.

v.13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

v.14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part He is evil spoken of, but on your part He is glorified.

I love verse 2, saying how we shouldn't live after the lusts of men, the things of this world, but always do and think the Will of God. It is so cool being on a mission, striving to live my life in exact accordance with how God wants me to live. I want to continue that after my mission, to hope for things not of this world because this world is a scary place and it’s only going to get worse until the time Christ comes again! It’s so important to have our feet rooted deep in this gospel.

Then in verses 12-14, I love how it speaks about the trials ahead of us, how sometimes they seem impossible to bare. It is really easy to complain about trials and face them with negativity but we should rejoice in our trials, because we get to experience just a minuscule of what Jesus Christ experienced for us and when He comes again, we will be so glad to see him and realize in a whole new way, a small amount of the pain he went through for us, because he loves us SO much, unconditionally.

I am so grateful for this gospel that I can share with the people in DeFuniak Springs, Florida. I just love you all so much! and hope things are going well :) I pray for y'all daily!

sister fletcher