Pictures! from Norfolk

My favorite mermaid in Norfolk!

Bro. Corry and some of his relatives/friends. He always has random people show up at his house during our lessons. Haha

Elder Carter and Elder Beus were the tall companionship in Norfolk and we were the short companionship.

David Payne...getting baptized in Norfolk Nov. 20th

The Drake family...they know Craig and Christina from Philadelphia

Hello from Richmond!

I am officially living in Richmond now. How weird. I never thought I would live in Richmond, but it's really cool and a lot more diverse than Newport News and Norfolk. There is no military, which is a bummer, but we have a lot of people that attend VCU. It's diverse because we have the really nice historical homes, but then we also have the Projects. As sisters we have areas that we cannot go to unless we have an appointment and then only during the day. We call it the "never zone". And we also have areas that we try not to be in after 5pm unless we have an appointment. It's weird because I came from Norfolk, which is super ghetto. But ghetto doesn't necessarily mean dangerous I guess... Don't worry, we are careful!! I know what you are all thinking. But trust me, we are not being silly sisters. We are following the restrictions. The Branch is small and they have most of the leadership positions filled by members called in from other wards. So half the ward is out of our boundaries. We have a few African families and a bunch of college students. Two of the YW, both from the African families, when they met me were in amazement of my hair. I wore it down and they kept touching it and telling me they like it. Haha. After Sacrament started I realized that I was one of 2 people with blonde hair and the other ladies was dyed. I tend to stick out with my blonde hair. That's strange because I'm in America. Haha.

Because it's a branch, there aren't as many members and apparently a lot of the women work too. Church is at 11am. I've had 9am church my whole mission and then for almost 3 years before that, so it's different meeting later in the morning. We don't get out till 2pm, so we were starving after! We get an hour of study in the morning before our bishop meeting, which is different. I've never had Sunday study! It's great.

Sister Adaniya is great. We are very similar to each other as far as the work goes, so it's going to be a good transfer. She is a convert of 5 years (sweet!!! to have a convert for a comp!) and her dad was baptized a couple of years ago, but her mom and brother have still not joined. She is Japanese Okinawan, but 2nd generation raised in Hawaii. She likes foreign foods and is a good cook, so we are going to eat good this transfer. We are both excited because she hasn't really had any comps that are into foreign things really. She has done some traveling, so we are going to have a lot of fun this transfer. And we both have some really good ideas of how to help the area grow.

We have a recent convert named Raymond Woods. He got baptized not too long ago at the age of 90. Sound familiar?

I told you about the prank we pulled on the elders right? About the Black Woman perfume on their handlebars? I hope so. Well Elder Meacham finally got me back. He dumped this really smelly cologne into my purse. We were out with a member in Norfolk and I was in front of her and Sis. Vawdrey and they both were like you have to walk behind us, you stink. So now everywhere I go I smell like stinky man cologne. Hopefully with P-Day I will have time to wash my bag. Haha.

Well here is my address:

3300 W Grace St, Apt 3
Richmond, VA 23221

October Pictures

The Kreitzer's with Vinolia Simmons

At Wasabi, the Tepanyaki place

We get creative when we tract...when no one is home

Transferred - email from Oct. 18, 2010

So we got our transfer calls last night. Based on some things Pres. Perry said to me in interviews last week I thought I would get to stay another transfer. But I am being transferred to.................................the downtown Richmond Branch! My companion will be Sis. Adaniya. She came out 1 transfer before me and was in the trio in NN1 right before I got there. She is from Hawaii! I don't really know much about her, but that and that she is a hard worker. So it's going to be awesome! Sisters have only been in the Branch for 6 months because of the danger risk. Sister Case opened the area, so she's been excitedly telling me all about it. Apparently there are areas we cannot enter after 5pm and some areas we cannot be in period as sisters. That's kind of like Norfolk except we didn't have actual restrictions...we just follow the Spirit.  It's a way different experience than anything else in my life and I love it! Mom and Dad, you'll just love visiting my areas. Haha. In the Branch we serve with the Zone Leaders and they are usually a trio, so there will be 5 of us. I'm excited for the new change because change on the mission is great. BUT, I am super bummed about leaving Norfolk 2. I love this ward. The members are so great and so supportive and the area is just one of a kind. Sister Vawdrey has been awesome to serve with. We are so depressed to be separated, but we knew it was coming. Pres. told both of us a change in companions was happening.

When I spoke with Pres. we had a really random conversation about all sorts of things. At one point I think he was encouraging me to marry a younger man. Haha. It's likely to happen, let's be honest. Last P-Day we had a zone sports day and Elder Ghelfy, one of the Spanish elders was making fun of me because I am "going to be so old when I get home". At conference he asked how old I was and we ended up figuring out we were the same age for another 2 days anyways. So at P-Day he was telling me that I would be 27 when I get home and all sorts of lies! And I told him he was old then. But he said because I am a sister that makes me old and that I am going to be single forever because I am going to be old when I get home. I was so mad at him! He is blacklisted from the cool elder list.

So I got a phone call from the office the other day saying that I need to decide now if I am going to be going home in February or April. Ahhhh! I don't know. That's forever away! I am supposed to let them know asap. How can I make that decision so far in advance? I didn't think I would be given an option because Pres. Millburn said that we go home whenever our release date is...Feb 22. But Pres. Perry is a little different and he lets us decide. So I need your advice and opinions on what you think. Please, send me these in your emails next week because I told them I will let them know after I hear from my family about it. I keep thinking, it's just 6 weeks why not stay? And then I keep thinking how I have no idea what I'm going to do when I get home, so I should go in Feb so I can start figuring it out before school application dates close in. Ahhhh! I really have NO idea what I'm going to do when I get home.

Yesterday we had dinner with the coolest family. The Peterson's are such a sweet family and are in Norfolk for med school. She reminds me so much of Christina, it's crazy! They have the cutest son too with the whitest hair! His name is Brayden. He served in Russia, so he said he'd make us Russian food. We had Solyanka (soup with pickles, sauage, bacon, olives, random things) and then Pelmeni (potstickers basically). It was so good and we ate both with lots of sour cream.

We also went by Sis. Dietz house and she had a friend over who when they were both in Hawaii had been scheduled to be baptized, but then her husband wouldn't let her. It was so cool to talk to her and she has been thinking lately about church again, so we are going to start to teach her and hopefully through a lot of prayers and fasting her husband will soften his heart. There are so many amazing things that are going to happen here next transfer and I'm excited for Sis. Vawdrey to get to experience it! And somehow hopefully I'll get to hear about it!

We taught David Payne the Word of Wisdom this week. He is a sweet tea drinker and at the end we asked him "Will you start now to live the Word of Wisdom?" He said hold on a minute and picked up his tea, took one more drink and said okay now I will. Haha. It was so cool. He has so much faith! He has been really sick, so he couldn't come to church unfortunately, but next week!

We taught this awesome lady named Sheilia this week. Her 7 year old daughter Alexis was there and so excited for us to come. Her mom tried to schedule when her kids would be at school so there wouldn't be a distraction, but there was early out and when Alexis walked in and saw us, she's like "yes they're here". Haha, it was so cute. She has a 5 year old son named Dylan. He's so tall. I've never seen a 5 year old that tall ever. The lesson went really well and she came to church! It is so hard to get people to come to church here after just one lesson, so we were so excited! And her kids of course loved it. It helped that it was the Primary Program too. We found Sheilia tracting to find the apartment number of a less active member. They are friends and upstairs/downstairs neighbors, so it's sweet. We left a note for the member on her door and she randomly showed up to church last week. It was so cool. That never happens. She actually had recently come back to church, just in the Mt. Pleasant Ward with her fiance who is also coming back to church. We are going to see the member tonight and talk to her about encouraging Sheilia and sharing her testimony with her. So cool!

Well the next time you will hear from me I will be in Richmond! Maybe I'll find that BBQ place. Hmmm...can you look it up and tell me where it's at?

I love you all and hope you are doing well!

Another Week

Aiden is soooo cute! He looks a lot like Tyler. Wasn't one of the other kids 7lb12oz? Ashlyn? How do Ashlyn, Hazen, and Rigg feel about the new baby? I'm glad Tyler approves. He looks like a good big brother! How cool Tyler got a certificate for being smart. He must take after his aunt :)

I was thinking the other day how I'll have to take Ashlyn and Tyler on a road trip to Eagar with me when I get back. Make sure I get the new address for Cody's family.

We've had a good week, but it's also been a really weird week. I'll spare the details of the really strange events.

Erica was just too much for us this week. One funny thing...we were looking at Erica's conference notes and one thing she had written down was "God reveals His gospel to His chosen serpents." Yes, serpents. Didn't you know. Apparantly she didn't find anything strange about that because she didn't say anything to us. Isn't that crazy? Another funny thing...ok I've told you about Erica, I don't know how much though. She has some mental illnesses and we're not quite sure her accountability level, but in school she gets a's and b's, so we're not sure about it all. Anyway, so somedays we teach her it goes really well, but others not so well, which is more often. It's a little frustrating. We've been debating as to whether we should stop teaching her. She comes to church but we think it's really because she wants to get out of the house and she can get free stuff (like raiding the lost and found) and she has Sis. Cobb to pick her up. So here's the funny story: Sis. Cobb was teaching about developing talents in Gospel Principles and had an object lesson. She had 3 people come up and gave them each a gift bag and inside was full of candy. The first looked inside said pretty much thanks but no thanks and threw the bag in the garbage (part of the object lesson). Erica was shocked and I heard her say, well you didn't have to throw it away, I'll take it. The next looked in the bag and quietly sat down, not saying anything. Then the last person looked in her bag and was so excited and wanted to share. But while Sis. Cobb started explaining it all, Erica went all the way across the room over to the garbage, got the candy out and took it back to her seat saying, well if he didnt want it, I do, I'm going to take it. It was hilarious. She was so focused on the candy being thrown in the garbage that she didn't even listen to the point Sis. Cobb was trying to make. We officially decided last night that we have to stop teaching her. When we feel like we have to bribe people to keep committments, it's not right. She wants to come to church, but she's not willing to consistently keep committments and she doesn't really care about reading or praying. She gets mad when we ask her about it too. She's a really great person, but we are just not going to continue teaching her. Maybe later on she'll be more ready.

We've seen David a couple of more times this week too. He is so cool. He knows the gospel is true, so whenever we teach him he just accepts the teachings as true. It's so cool. That is how Rodney was too. We hope his twin 15 year olds come along too.

Well sorry for the lame-o email. It really was a strange week, but we still had fun together!

Love you!

Sister Talbot

Do We Have a New Baby Yet?

A 5pm c-section? That means it will be 8pm here. That's forever away! I am so excited to see pictures of Tyler Jr. So what are we naming this baby anyways? Liam sounds like a good name to me ; )

Just a side note from Katy's mom - Aiden Kean Judd was born Monday, October 4, 2010 at 5:32 p.m.  He was 7 lbs. 12 oz. and 20" long.  Mother and baby are doing well and he really is a Tyler look alike.

This last week has been so great! Time is passing by really quickly. Last transfer seemed long, but this one is flying by. Mom, you asked if I would get a chance to see any other part of VA? I have no idea. I assume I have one more area in my future, but who knows if it will be somewhere new. I had a dream once about 2 months ago I was going to Harrisonburg. That'd be cool. They don't have sisters there now though. Pres. Perry has really been sending sisters to the other side of Richmond though, so you never know.

We taught this man named David Payne this week. We actually taught him twice this week. He has been friends with a member in VA Beach for 30 years or so and over the last 4 or 5 months David has really had an opportunity to read from the Book of Mormon and talk to his friend about the Church. So a few months ago the Stake had a High Priest Group social and he went and met Bishop Cluff and talked to him for a really long time. Bishop gave the elders his info and then the elders passed it to us because he lives too close to the beach. So we finally got to teach him and he is awesome. He already has a testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. He has committed to be baptized on November 20th! He has colon cancer and has been able to beat the odds over the last 2 years he's had it. He knows he's going to die and we know he will too. But that is why having the restored gospel is so wonderful and amazing. We know that because he will receive the ordinance of baptism he will be one of the valiant missionaries in the Spirit World. His testimony will convert many. He asks the question, why not be happy? He's dying of cancer and he asks, why not be happy? This man is incredible. He has two 15 year old twins who hopefully will be able to soon start the lessons and come to mutual activities. They need the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation to prepare for the inevitable event sure to come over the next year. Sister Dietz has come to both lessons with us and after the first lesson she said, I like him, we should keep him. Yes, we should and we are. David has to wear a bag to use the bathroom (tmi, I know) and mentioned that would be a concern in order to be fully immersed and before we could say anything about it, he said he'd check with his doctors and it will all work out. Seriously family, this guy is awesome. We will for sure visit him mom and dad when we come back next year.

We had some random man who may or may not have been under the influence of something shout to us as we were walking "ya'll are gorgeous ladies." So let it be known, the mission weight isn't too bad. As Sister Pinter and Sister Case say, we wear it well.

General Conference was so awesome! I forgot to bring my notes to the library with me :( So maybe next week I will give a conference review. They focused a lot on strengthening ourselves through faith and consistency. And they spoke a lot about agency as well. They quoted from 2 Nephi 2 more than anywhere else I think. If you haven't read this chapter in a while, it would be a good one to chase conference with. One quote I really liked was from Pres. Uchtdorf and it was proceed at the optimum speed for our circumstance. I like the idea of doing what is realistic for you. Sis. Wixom said that it took them 3.5 years to read the Book of Mormon as a family. They started by only reading a few verses a day, which was realistic for them at the time and then slowly increased as the kids got older. I am so glad she shared that story. Even if it is just one verse a day, it's something and it's showing the Lord we are willing. I also really liked the 14 points of why we need a living prophet and what comes with that. The prophet today is more valuable to us now than the standard works!!!!!! WOW!!! I talked to a member before conference and he said he told his 8 year old daughter that there was no church today. What!?!? I cannot believe people think General Conference is a weekend off. Just like Nephi says in 2 Nephi 33:15, "what I seal on earth (or what any prophet does), shall be brought against you at the judgement bar..." Makes me want to listen! I liked how Pres. Monson said at the end how our testimony should be a protection to us when the times get hard and someone also commented how the testimony should continue to be strengthened, so when hard times come we will have our strong faith to get us through. I read 3 Nephi 4: 10 this morning and I love the last half...the people were prepared and received strength of the Lord. Now is the time to prepare ourselves spiritually...but remembering to proceed at the optimum speed for our circumstances. Conference rocks!

I hope you all enjoyed Conference. Sister Vawdrey and I were talking this morning about how surprised we were at how many people we've talked to didn't watch it because they are waiting for the Ensign or just don't care about it. The prophet speaks for God...Conference is God speaking to us.

I seriously love this ward so much. The members are too cool and if I was married with kids, this is definitely the ward (not necessarily the city!) I would want to be in.

I love you!!!!

Hey Everybody!

Last night we had a Missionary Fireside and it was so good. The elders and us put it together and it turned out so nice. If only more people would have come though. As active and less-active members we have to ensure that we continue to have spiritual experiences and last night was. Jamien Basso was baptized last week gave his testimony for the first time and also Liz and Bella Otis who just hit their year mark of their baptism. Liz is such a rock. I love her so much and she really strengthens me everytime we teach her or hear her testimony. She just turned 26 and her daughter just turned 10. She had a rough patch in her life, but it was necessary because she sees now how necessary a Savior is and how the gospel blesses us. As far as individuals that have changed me on my mission, she is right up there with the Hamilton family. Oh by the way, did I tell you Sis. Dunn got transferred back to NN1? Pres. Perry has no idea what our old areas are, so there is still hope I can go back there someday! She is there with Sis. Woodruff now. Sweet! Back to the fireside...Sis. Stewart in the ward is an amazing pianist and she composes music, so she played one of her pieces. Bishop Cluff spoke and he shared insights from a book about William Tyndale called Fire in the Bones by Michael Wilcox. I want to read that book when I get home. Tyndale was around during the reformation era and translated the Bible. He suffered a lot of persecution and was a martyr for the cause. You can also read about him and other reformers in PMG, Chapter 3, end of Lesson 1.

On Saturday we taught Kat again. She is so great and I want so badly for her to accept the gospel. She admits that she has a hard time praying specifically to know the BoM is the word of God and that Joseph Smith is the prophet of the Restoration because she is afraid of the answer and because she is not quite ready to submit to the Lord's will. She helps to remember that this is real life. She reminds me a lot of me actually. Some of the things she says make me think if I wasn't born in the Church I would probably be like her. She has a great faith and is looking for more, so these are the times when we as missionaries develop patience and trust in the Lord's timing. But the lesson we taught was about real intent and asking questions in prayer. There is a lot of value in asking specific questions especially in regards to wanting to know truth and needing specific guidance. There haven't been many times on my mission where my own personal experiences have been relevant (never done drugs, never been to jail! haha) in a lesson, but in regards to asking specific questions I shared about when I was trying to decide where to go to college. I wanted one thing and I went for it and then ended up finally realizing it wasn't the right decision and then I made the decision to do what the Lord had in store. Kat is just so great!

We had a lesson with Jessica. I taught her once back in May. She is the young cute Navy wife who's husband is deployed and grew up in small town Baptist North Carolina town. We taught her the Plan of Salvation and she loves the idea of eternal families. The way she was raised (Baptist/Adventist) they believe you remember you were married to your spouse after this life, but you are just brothers and sisters in the end. She at this point in unwilling to change her religion.  But we are hopeful that she likes eternal families so much, that she will pray about it.

We were able to teach Shekaylia finally. We tried to pass her over to the Singles Branch, but nobody did anything. So we are hoping to see her every week! She pretty much fell less active after her baptism. Thank heavens that we rely on the Spirit to change people because we would not get anywhere with her if it was just us.
So we've been seeing lots of bugs and creatures lately. We had 4 cockroaches in our house. They were big ones too. Sis. V and I don't do bugs, so we yell for Sis. Case to save the day. The Kreitzer's took us to see this crazy spider at their house and when we were dropping off our laundry today the Kane's had a tree frog on their door frame. Ewww!

Relief Society Broadcast - It was soooo good!  I really liked Sis. Thompson's talk a lot.  She is great!  I have really gained a testimony of VT on my mission because I see the fruit of when sisters do it and the potential fruit if others would do it.  Sis. Long one of my favorite sisters in the ward came back to church about a year ago and she gives a lot of credit to her faithful visiting teacher, Sis. Royl.

 Have a wonderful week!

Hey, Hey!

What's new this week? We had a great week. We had dinner last night with the Drake family. They are so cool. They invited Sis. Cobb and Sis. Cacho over, so it was a party. The Drake's were telling us how in Philadelphia they would get together with other dental students a lot and it was so much fun. Our ward here is pretty good about getting together and having FHE or dinners too. I hope my future wards in my life will be so fun like that. Bro. Drake also told me that Craig sent him a picture of a really disgusting mouth. I laughed because I knew that was my cousin. Haha

We had such a great lesson with this man named Anthony Calahan. We call him Bro. Calahan. We met him while tracting around a referral we received. He is retired Navy and was on the Enterprise for about 5-6 years. He grew up in Louisiana and was Catholic. I'm tempted to say his family came from the Carribean originally, but I'm not sure. While he was in the Navy he found himself a cute Filipino wife and has been married 23 years and has 4 kids. I talked to him this morning and he doesn't think his wife is very interested, but he already has read the passages in the BoM that we left with him. Now if we can get him to church and to pray specifically...! He lives around the corner from the Shealey's who are incredible and so willing to help, so they will be very instrumental in fellowshipping. Before we came to the lesson he had already read the pamphlet and looked at mormon.org (which if you still haven't done that...do it!). He seemed like he was skeptical, but by the end of the lesson he said he wanted to know and he knew that man would not give him the answer. So cool!

We had at least 7 less active families at church this Sunday. We again had to open the curtains! This ward is so awesome! Bishop Cluff is such a great bishop and is always willing to give his time and energy to serving. We always joke how he never sleeps. I learned early on in my mission that the leaders in the ward determine the success of the people in the ward. It's true and I've seen it over and over on my mission. Where the Ward Council is strong, so are the members and the missionary work.

Jamien Basso was baptized on Saturday. The elders have been teaching him for a couple of months. It was such a great baptism and was perfect for Jamien. We are super excited to have him in the ward. He is a man of many talents too. His mom is learning and so is his neighbor upstairs. They are both set to be baptized in October. They live on the roughest street in our area, so it's so awesome that the Spirit is changing it! There of course will still be lots of gang stuff and drugs on that street, but slowly but surely we'll convert the whole street! Bro. Corry used to live on it, but it was too bad he moved shortly after his baptism last August. The Lord has definitely prepared hearts in the ghetto areas here. I have had such an interesting experience in VA. I had no idea how many people were addicted to drugs and that it's normal for kids to be surrounded with it and with stabbings, etc. It's so sad. But I know the Lord will allow each of His children to choose to accept the gospel whether in mortality or in the Spirit World. I am listening now to a mom yelling at her kid in the library.  I am truly grateful for the way I was brought up and that I have the gospel. The gospel truly blesses families!

I'm out of time, but I have a funny story to share first. We met this lady named Rhoda when we were going to contact another member referral (love those!). She asked us all sorts of sweet questions and then we set up a time to see her. She had to reschedule that lesson and so we finally saw her last week. When we got to her house she wasn't home. We were bummed, but we called her and she actually picked up. Usually they don't. Haha. She was at the store and originally in her mind I think she wasn't home on purpose. But the Spirit prompted her to return home for the lesson. She had lots of great questions for us and also some strange ones. She asked us randomly if we were virgins. If we would go to the Holiness church with her (we really hope we can work that out!). And if we wore perfume. This is where it got really funnny. She walked us out to our car and stopped at hers and said she wanted us to have this perfume. It's called Black Woman. She put a bunch on our arms and the smell was awful. She was like isn't this so good and nice and soft? Uh yeah sure. Haha. Well I tried to wash it off 3 times and it didn't budge. It was so stinky. We were telling a member about it and he said we should put in on the elders bikes. So after our meetings on Thursday we put some on their handle bars. It was so hilarious. They called us and said "you know what they say about paybacks right". Haha. They still haven't done anything to us. I don't think they will, they are too nice. Haha. The perfume is so strong it wouldn't surprise me if they'll be smelling black woman for a few months. Haha.

Good Food Week

So I have finally been to a Tepanyaki place. It's called Wasabi. It was soooo good. We went with the Mitchell's who are one of the coolest families in the ward. They are so fun! They grilled up some good food right at our table and we had some sushi and some Tempura cheesecake. It was cool when we shared our lesson, Sis. Mitchell said they have been studying PMG everyday since we came a week ago. So cool! Then at church I talked to another sister in the ward and she said that she has been studying PMG too. We are getting into every member home and teaching PMG. We share every member lesson practically out of PMG, so we always make them pull it out. Quite a few have started studying out of it on their own, which rocks. PMG-a guide to missionary service. It's purpose it to help every member learn how to be a missionary. It's so sweet! The day after we went to Wasabi we went to the Williamsons for dinner and a PMG lesson on Missionary Work. We gave them some pass along cards and they immediately set the goal to each give 2 away by the end of the month. So cool! I love this family. She does hair, so the first week of last transfer we all went to get our hair trimmed. He is from Scotland originally and they just moved here so he could do his PHD at Old Dominion University. And they made us curry!! This has been a good week for food I tell ya. I miss Indian, Thai, etc type of food.

So we have recently had some cockroaches in our apartment. Gross! Sis. Vawdrey and I have found 3 of the 4 and we just usually scream really loud and yell for Sis. Case to come and kill them. We're not sure where they are coming from suddenly because our apartment is clean. I'm afraid they are going to crawl on me in my sleep or something. We've gotten really freaked out. I hate praying next to my bed after the lights are out. I've been kneeling on my bed just to be safe. Haha

Vinolia is doing well. She was at church yesterday and really enjoyed herself. I didn't get to talk to her much because we had so many people at church. The last 2 Sundays we've had to open up the back! We see Vinolia for another lesson tomorrow. Her and her husband spoke about finding a church together, so she was hoping he would come with her to church, but she said that he wasn't ready. He wants her to wait to be baptized, but he's not doing anything about finding a church, so hopefully she can talk to him more about just letting her do what she wants to and he can come along when he is ready to do something about it. We need to start teaching more of the lessons when he is at home, so we can invite him to listen in.

We had a lesson at Mildred and Theresa's and Mildred's daughter Paulette who owns the house who just got out of jail was there. She was really interested to learn more, so we are going to start teaching her too. She is really cool and seems open to learning. She said she'd try to come to church, but she didn't make it unfortunately. There was a man who was fixing their toilets while we taught the lesson and then we ended up talking to him in the parking lot for 20 minutes. He was interested in learning more, but he's more of the skeptical type. The problem is that he would meet with us, but he lives in my last area in Newport News. He said he doesn't want to talk to other missionaries because he said he met us for a reason. So we're not sure what to do about him yet. We didn't set a lesson, so we'll have to call him.

Sunday we had 2 investigators at church (should have had more, but that's pretty normal) and a bunch of less active members. We had this one family show up. She has now come 4 times since I've been here in Norfolk and her husband came with her yesterday. He is on the Enterprise and this last run they had he got hooked up with the church members and I think he is ready to get the priesthood now. He grew up LA and never got the priesthood. They are a young couple and have an 18 month old, so it's the perfect timing for them to come back to church. He deploys in January and there are a bunch of members on the E, so it'll be a good situation for him.

Well time is up and I've got to go!  I wanted to share some scriptures that I found recently that I have been sharing with lots of people because they've really helped me to understand more about the purpose of scripture study. I wish I had more time to elaborate, but I will share the scriptures and leave it to you. So read the section called Study the Scriptures on page 73 of PMG and then it's the verses on the top of page 74 I really like. My favorite is 2 Timothy 3:16-17. They are all good, but the Bible ones are my favorite. When I read this section the other day, it was like I had never read it before. I know that by studying scripture we can truly know what we need to do and who we can become. We learn about Jesus Christ and by doing so, can know what we can do in our lives to become more like him. We committed a member last night to read scripture everyday and I cannot wait to see how she is influenced because of it.

Hurricane Earl

Another transfer in Norfolk for Sis. Vawdrey and I. Yay! I'm going to make it to at least 6 months here. One of the other sisters is transferring and another one coming in. With the elders in our ward, Elder Meacham who came last transfer is staying and Elder Cook who has been here for 2 transfers is transferring and they will both be District Leaders. So we will be getting Elder Crossley. I don't know him yet. A lot of changes are happening each transfer with Pres. Perry. Sis. Dunn is going back to NN1 and will be with Sis. Woodruff. That's crazy that she is going back there...she's only been away 2 transfers. They are also taking some sisters out of areas and putting in elders and also vice versa. There are 2 areas being opened to sisters this transfer on the other half of the mission which make a total of 4 sister areas on the other side. And I don't think he is done spreading the sisters out.

We have started teaching this new lady named Olivia. She is so cool. She has the 3 cutest kids ever. She used to meet with missionaries years ago, met with the elders once earlier in the year and now we are teaching her. The elders saw her in Wal-Mart last week on P-Day, so that's crazy she keeps running into missionaries. She lives in a bad area of town where she was raised and she wants so badly for her boys to grow up with a better life. She is a great mom and is trying really hard to help them be good. The gospel of Jesus Christ will definitely help her with that!

We are teaching this lady named Vinolia who is from Africa. She met her husband while he was in the Peace Corps assigned to Africa and have been married 5 years now. She has 3 kids still in Africa and she is trying to get her 12 year old here with her, but it's really expensive! The elders were teaching her, but have recently had us start teaching her. (It is so easy to pass the men to them and they pass the women to us.) We taught her in the Kreitzer's home yesterday and had dinner. It was fun. The Kreitzer's have 2 little girls and 1 little boy and Vinolia does so well with kids and they love her! She is one of those investigators who you know will keep her committments and tell you what she is thinking about what she is learning. Yay! We have talked to her about baptism and her husband who is not interested in learning but supportive said that she needs to wait a while. So we'll see what happens with him.

Yep, we survived Hurricane Earl. Haha. It was supposed to hit in the middle of the night Thursday night, but it took another path. All day Friday was windy and rainy though. But not really what I thought it would be. It wasn't like the Noreaster last year. The preparations for the hurricane were pretty funny. We had to carry our 72 hour kits with us everywhere. We also had to flip a huge trampoline upside down and fill a bunch of buckets of water. The Wal-Mart was really packed last week. We were looking forward to being Hurricane survivors, but we're glad it didn't stick around and cause us to have to be in.   I had some weird flu last week and the day of the wind and rain it was the worst. But it's gone now and so is the rain.

Obviously the email is one day later than normal. With Labor Day, the libraries were closed, so we are emailing today. We forgot to plan it in our schedules, so we don't get the full hour. What were we thinking!?

Our youth had a fun activity this last Thursday. It was a YM/YW vs. Bishopric volleyball game. It was so funny! We wanted to go play too, but me in skirts and volleyball is a bad combo.