Sister Fletcher in the Florida, Tallahassee Mission: This is NOT your home!

HI! This week was wonderful :) First off...I can’t believe I have been out for eight months. Where does the time go?? It feels like yesterday I walked into the MTC. Mission life is craaaazy. We drove up to Tallahassee Tuesday night and I said good-bye to Sister Carter :( (who is now home in California!) and I got my new daughter (trainee) on Wednesday. She is AMAZING!! Her name is Sister Hart and she is from Boise, ID. We get along super well, have tons in common, and already have so much fun together. I am really excited about our next few transfers together :)

A few weeks ago Sister Carter and I met a guy named Greg who is 25 years old. He is currently living in Fort Walton but has been spending many of his days here in Panama City, fixing up his grandparents' house, who have recently passed away. We offered him some help and told him we would come back later and bring the elders to help also. He was so shocked we would offer to help him and was super hesitant because he felt bad, so he declined. We went on our way. Last Thursday I had a strong impression to contact him again and this time, we were able to teach him the gospel of Jesus Christ, which he LOVED. We offered to help him on his house again and this time he accepted. We are going to his house tonight with the elders to do some work. He told us that two weeks ago on the very day Sister Carter and I knocked on his door, he was telling a friend on the phone how he didn’t know anybody in the area and felt so alone and just needed some help, but didn’t want to ask. Then, there we were at his door, offering to help him. If that doesn't prove to you how aware God is of His children then I don’t know what will! It also taught me how important it is to listen to the spirit.

We had a great lesson on Saturday with our investigator, Cathy, who is getting baptized on Feb. 11th. We are all SO excited for that day! We taught her the Plan of Salvation and she was just so happy to have the following questions answered: Where did we come from?; Where are we going?; and, What is our purpose in life? Last week we taught her about baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. We brought a member from the ward with us to meet with her. He spoke about her baptism and how she will be "spiritually reborn." Apparently she didn’t understand what he meant. She told us this week that she has been scared and praying and praying because she thought we meant she would actually DIE when she gets baptized and then come back to life as a whole new person. Cathy has SO much faith because she was willing to even DIE to be baptized!!! I promise that is not what happens, hahaha. She was so cute in telling us she had just prayed Heavenly Father would give her the strength to do it. Cathy came to church again yesterday and loved it. She is SO prepared. :)

So y'all are probably wondering why I titled my email what I did. So I have been thinking a lot this week about our life on earth. Sometimes I feel like my mission (or life in general) is going by so slowly, and then at other times, it feels like it is flying by, but, I know I shouldn't be thinking about that at all. I have really been trying to take each day, one at a time, and work SO hard. I have been working really hard, but also have had so much fun doing it. We don’t have to always take ourselves so seriously all the time. We can have fun even when we are doing such a serious work, because trust me, this work is SO SERIOUS. WE ARE SAVING HUMAN SOULS HERE! As I have been thinking about life, it really hit me more than ever that this world we are living in right now...is NOT our home. We can set up camp here, visit here, but shouldn't dig our roots deep in the ground. This is not our home, this is not where we came from, this is just temporary. We are a part of SO much more. This gospel changes lives and I don’t understand how I got so lucky to share it with those in Panama City, Florida. Life is so good :)

Have a GREAT week! I love you all so much!

- send me love -

2401 Stanford Rd. #503

Panama City, FL 32405

Sister Fletcher