3 states in 3 days!

Hey y'all!  This week has been kind of rough but things will turn around soon.  We are staying in the Atmore apartment until our apartment is ready on May 3rd.  Sleeping on the floor...sharing one bathroom with four sisters with literally no personal space...yeah.  It’s been fun! haha.  Our mission president told us that we can go out to our area four times next week so we are excited to drive out to Bay Minette and start working.  Sister Corbett and I have felt really strongly about doing nothing but finding new people to teach once we get out to Bay Minette.  Our goal is to get a branch started out there because all the people we will be finding and teaching would have to drive all the way to the Atmore branch.  We are going to work hard to achieve this.  It is so exciting being the first missionaries to ever be in this area. There are so many streets that have never been tracted, so many people who have never been introduced to the gospel of Jesus Christ.  This will be a challenge but I am so up for it :)

My new companion is Sister Corbett and I love her already.  She is from Orem, Utah, and has three sisters.  She is so sweet and such a great, hard-working missionary!  Atmore/ Bay Minette, Alabama, is SO southern.  I am kind of in culture shock all over again lol.  Everyone has such a thick accent and eats tons of fried chicken.  I just love it!  This town is a lot smaller than my last area and I have realized I am definitely more of a city person.  I know once I start to really meet and love the people, I will fall in love with this place. 

The branch is awesome.  It’s so different serving in a branch.  There are about 30 people that come to church which is very different than what I am used to but I love these branch members already.  They are so willing to help us do missionary work. 

I came from Florida on Tuesday, arrived in Alabama that evening, then went to Pascagoula, Mississippi, later in the week to help at a family history event.  It was awesome seeing another state on my mission and meeting lots of cool people out there. 

This week my companion and I have been studying a lot about the first and great commandment, “To love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy might and with all thy mind and with all thy strength”.  We get to train the Mobile Zone missionaries regarding this topic on Saturday.  It has had me thinking about our desires.  What is my desire as a missionary?  Is it the love I have for Heavenly Father? For His children?  To simply do His will and always put it above my own?  It is hard to do that sometimes. Sometimes, other things sound so much better than walking around in the hot, humid sun, knocking on doors all day long and facing rejection after rejection.  Sometimes I would rather be taking it easy at home than out here, but I have learned that once I give my wants to Heavenly Father, once I truly give him my heart, He will take it and mold it into something I never thought I could become.  It’s amazing. 

So, why should we love God?  I was reading an amazing talk by President Uchtdorf this morning and he summed up why we must and need to love God.  He says, "God the Eternal Father did not give that first great commandment because He needs us to love Him.  His power and glory are not diminished should we disregard, deny, or even defile His name. His influence and dominion extend through time and space independent of our acceptance, approval or admiration.  No, God does not need us to love Him. But oh, how we need to love God!  For what we love determines what we seek.  What we seek determines what we think and do.  What we think and do determines who we are and who we will become."

I love this so much.  Oh how WE need to love God.  We need Him.  So give your heart to Him.  Talk to him, pray to him, feel of His unfailing, unconditional love.  Nothing is stopping you from feeling His love but your own self. 

Love you all so much!  Thanks for the prayers and love :)) Have a great week!

If you want to send me love, send it to this address:

1535 Killearn Center Blvd Ste C3

Tallahassee, FL 32309

(this is the mission home address and will be forwarded to me no matter where I go.  In two weeks I will make sure to send out my new actual address :))

<3

sister fletcher

Pascagoula, Mississippi

Reunited with cute Sister Housel
(my MTC companion)

Sister Olson...going from PCB zone
to the Mobile zone together

Sleeping arrangements lol

Motor home party!

My cute new companion, Sister Corbett

My baby and her baby!

Life is good...then you get transferred" --Gene Simonds

Sorry!  I literally have no time today. BUT, I am getting transferred!!!!!!!! Craziness!!!! I am so sad to be leaving Lynn Heaven.  I love these people with my whole heart!!!! but I know there will be amazing times ahead.  Saturday morning, my mission president called and asked how I would feel about opening up a new area...in Bay Minette, Alabama!  There have never been missionaries in this area and my new companion, Sister Corbet, and I will be heading out there tomorrow to figure out missionary work. hahaha  Our apartment isn’t ready yet so we will be staying with the sisters in Atmore for the next two weeks and then move in to our place.  It’s going to be quite the adventure ahead but I know with the Lord's help, I can do it. :) I am so excited to be heading back to Alabama! 

I love you all! 

sister fletcher <3

ps- I have SO many pictures this week..sorry not sorry

Birthday cake at the Morse's!

District bonfire

Birthday lunch

The Simonds'!!

Birthday packages :))

My best friend

The Harvard's
(funniest people EVER)

Sister Sant!!

The Wykle's came down from
DeFuniak Springs to take
Sister Hart and I out to lunch!

The cute cake Sister Wykle made
for my birthday!

Teaching sweet Josalynn how to play guitar

Peggy...yeah, we are pretty sad I'm leaving :(
I'm going to miss this woman SO MUCH!

Michelle!

Luke!

India!

Emi (Pretty much my mom here)

Morse Juniors! MY FAVS

Morse Seniors! ALSO MY FAVS

Bye to Emma and Jake :(

Cute Sister Hart at our
last lunch together

Mama Greninger on Easter

What a blessed week :))

First off, thank you everyone for the birthday wishes!  I can’t believe today is my last day as a teenager, it’s pretty bittersweet :))

So this week has been wonderful!!  We picked up three new investigators so that was pretty awesome :)  I have so much love in my heart for all the people we teach...and just when I think I can’t love someone as much as the last, I am proved wrong every time. 

The member missionary work is really taking off here in Lynn Heaven.  As we have really taken the time to get to know, love, serve, and teach the members, we have been referred to many of their friends.  But what's amazing, is that ever since we have taken the counsel from our mission president to doing member finding lessons, we have been blessed with people to teach, finding them in other ways as well. 

Remember a couple of weeks ago when I talked about meeting Tyler at McDonald's?  Well, we were able to meet with him this morning and I’m not kidding, it was probably one of the most intense, spiritual lessons I have ever been a part of.  We got to know him, established some expectations, and taught him the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Tyler actually lives in a home close to McDonald's in a run-down part of town.  We found out he lives with his friend Trevor and Trevor's mom.  Trevor is 22 years old and has had blood clots his whole life.  His mom has had to take him to doctors all around the country and he is still not doing well.  Tyler said that Trevor is all he has left now...he was kicked out of his home at the age of 14, had to live in a care center, and was then kicked out of there a few months ago.  He expressed his gratitude for Trevor and his mother for taking him in.  Trevor's mom, Cynthia, kept coming in and out of the front door during the whole lesson and towards the end, came up to Tyler with tears in her eyes to tell him she was taking Trevor to Birmingham to get some more treatment.  She was packing up the car as we continued to teach Tyler and the spirit grew stronger and stronger. Tears were in everybody's eyes.  Then something amazing happened.  Cynthia came back up to the front door near where we were sitting outside.  She looked at Tyler and said, "What these girls are teaching you is true.  I believe it with all my heart.  They met you for a reason."  She hugged Tyler and they cried.  Wow!

Tyler is a miracle.  I know we met him for a reason.  I already love him so much.  It is amazing to me how little we know about anyone when we first see them.  When we saw Tyler at McDonald's, little did we know the hurt and the pain in his life.  Little did we know the immense trials he was going through. 

I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ offers us SO much peace.  Peace you simply cannot feel anywhere else, or in any other way, through any other source.  That is why I am on a mission. That is why I chose to serve the Lord for 18 months in Florida, and that is why I will serve the Lord for the rest of my life!  People NEED to know about this church, about this gospel, that if they just put their faith and trust in the Savior, He can heal them, He can help them.  So if you feel like something is missing in your life, call the missionaries.  They will help you.  Also, everyone should check out the video called, “Prince of Peace.” (link below)  It is an Easter Initiative the church started a little while ago.  We have been sharing it with a lot of people and it simply testifies of the savior.  https://www.mormon.org

I hope y'all have a wonderful week ahead :) 

lots of love,

sister fletcher

<3

Only my favorites - the Gomillions

SURPRISE

jk It's Michelle's!
She's getting married!

A real life bore head ... sick

pretty pretty

Cute Sam!!
She's getting married next month
and she's younger than me, yay!!

The Moreau's

The week I got bit by an alligator

Another wonderful week has come and gone.  Time keeps flying faster and faster and it needs to stop!  I’m kind of having a mid-life crisis because next week I turn 20...yeah...not down.

There were a lot of great things this week but probably my favorite was doing a member lesson with the cutest older couple in our ward, the Keller’s.  Over the past three weeks or so, Sister Hart and I have been going to many of the ward members' homes and doing a member finding lesson.  We share scriptures and a worksheet we made to help the families share the gospel with their friends or for them to write down names for us to contact.  On Friday we did the same lesson with the Keller’s.  We haven’t even met them at church before and it was amazing to be in their beautiful home and get to know them. Bill and LaRou Keller have lived such a fascinating life.  LaRou was an army nurse back in the 60's and met Bill at the base. We found out later from another member that she actually outranked Bill!  They are the cutest and sweetest couple.  In their home they have furniture and pictures from all over the world from places they have lived.  I have realized that I want a life like that.  I want to travel and live everywhere and see everything!  They are so inspiring to me!

Last night Brother Keller called us and asked us to come over because he had something to give us.  We arrived at their home after an appointment and they handed us a huge packet with names of people from the military living around the world who have retired.  Apparently they get an updated copy each year. Bill told us he had a dream the night before and felt that he should give it to the sister missionaries.  We are so excited for all the referrals that will come out of this book!

Today has been crazy!  The rain has been so heavy with tons of thunder and lightning and wind like I’ve never experienced!  Sister Hart and I didn't want to spend our P-day bored inside so we put on some old t-shirts, basketball shorts and rain boots and ran around in the rain for a while. It was so much fun!  I felt like I was six years old again :)

I sure hope you were all able to watch conference this weekend!  It was the best.  I enjoyed every minute of it!  After every talk, Sister Hart and I would look at each other and say, "That one was my favorite."  Eventually we ended up just saying, "Everything is my favorite."  What a joy it was to hear from our prophet, Thomas S. Monson.  His sweet simple words about the Book of Mormon are ones I really cherish.  My question going into conference was how I can fall more in love with the Book of Mormon.  Our prophet promises that if we read the Book of Mormon each day, we can feel of the spirit of the Lord, overcome doubt and fear, and resist temptation. Who doesn't want to feel the spirit more?  I know I need the spirit all the time!  Especially as a missionary, it is crucial!  What an amazing promise given to us that if we read the Book of Mormon, we can overcome our doubts and fears.  I also need that for sure!  As a missionary, we have a lot of fears and doubts.  Lastly, I would love to have the power to resist temptation. Temptations are all around us in this crazy world!  So read the Book of Mormon!  It is truly amazing and will change your life! 

I love you all!  Have a great week :)

<3

sister fletcher

p.s.  Oh, and if your waiting for a crazy story about getting bit by an alligator...

it didn't really happen.  Happy April Fools!  Sorry for the scare mom & dad ;)

10 Months #holla

Pretty

Hey buddy!

The Cornelius family!

A tree I painted
(I know I'm not the best artist)

The Keller's

Rain all day today!

Before...

After