Peach My Gospel: 6.27.16 Wake Me Up When September Ends❤️

Hi y'all!! It was a magnificent week and we saw many miracles! We also had lots of opportunities to serve which was great! The humidity is a killer and only getting worse hence the title of this weeks email Wake Me Up When September Ends! Haha

Tuesday was a crazy but great day! That morning we went and had a lesson with Tonia. We were a little worried and think about dropping her but when she reached out to us we decided to have one more lesson. We taught her the plan of salvation and the spirit was super strong! She said she knew she had never heard it, but she felt like she already knew some of it. We talked about how we were taught these things in the premortal life and that a lot of what we talked about would ring a familiar bell. She told us that she really wanted to give it her all and was so excited to come to church on Sunday. She even asked for some chapters out of the BoM and bible to study about it! It was an awesome start to the day! Then we went and did some service for Kieren and had a lesson with her. We didn't have much time so we just ran by chick-fil-a for lunch and some members were there! They paid for our lunch and we got to have lunch with them. It was so sweet!(: After that we went to have a lesson with Debi and do some service for her, she owns a business so it was a lot of paper work. We sorted through invoices, bills and deposits. We felt like we were in school again and learned the differences between receipts, invoices and bills! Haha After that we had a delicious dinner with the Catos. We love them so much and were laughing the whole time. Kenny got there in time for the spiritual message which was perfect! That night we went to visit the Andersons in Social Circle. Sister Andersons mother passed away and they were going through a hard time. When we got there Sister Anderson invited her dad in who is not a member so we could offer a special prayer on the home and family. Of course Gremmy "voluntold" me to offer it and I was so scared! It turned out to be an amazing experience and I could feel the spirit speaking through me. I don't even remember what I said but the spirit was so strong!

Wednesday morning we went to volunteer at FISH! It was fun as always except when we got home and Sister Holmgren told me that some guy was following me around and hitting on me. Ew! Earlier in the week we got a call from the Loganville sisters. Sister Merritt started talking to us about an investigator she had taught in her last area, Glenda. Sister Merritt said that Glenda had recently moved to Monroe, and wanted to meet the missionaries here. So we set up an appointment with Glenda and got to meet her on Wednesday. As we asked some questions, we got to find out that she had been taught quite a bit, and remembered a good portion of the things she was taught. As we continued to talk, the spirit become present in the room, and we asked her about baptism and if she had ever thought about it. She said she would loved to be baptized. She said she was so ready and knew that it was what she needed to do, but she said she was leaving for a few weeks at the end of July, so would have to be at the end of August. As the spirit told us how ready she really was, we encouraged her to pray about being baptized about being baptized in July, before leaving on her trip. She agreed. It was a great lesson! Then we had great lessons with the Smiths and Hazel! After that we had a yummy dinner with Sister Stone and Grace. The rest of the night was taken up by ward correlation.

Thursday morning we had district meeting and got to meet the new sisters! Sister Holmgren and I gave a training on The Role of the Holy Ghost in Conversion. It was a fantastic training and the spirit was so strong. I love teaching with Sister Holmgren and it was so great to train together! After Distrcit meeting we had lunch at Sister Gossling's. She is so cute and served a mission so when there was thirty minutes left of our lunch hour she said "go lay down on the guest bed and take a nap, I know you want to," Haha it was so great and much needed! We helped trim her bushes and I couldn't help but think of the Will of God Mormon message. We were pruning these big beautiful bushes and after we were done they looked so small and bare. But the pruning was necessary so they could continue to grow. Just like with us sometimes God puts us through things that tear us up and make us shrink but they are essential for our growth. He is the true gardener! After that we went to visit with Connie. We hadn't been able to see Dylan in forever and decided that if we couldn't see his this time we would have to drop him. We went in and sat down with Connie, before we knew it out came Dylan to join us! We had a great lesson and it was a tender mercy of God saying don't give up on him yet. So cool! That night we went to see Kieren and Marcus. We went a different way than usual and got a little lost! We found the cutest gas station with delicious peach margarita snow cones and boiled pens its! Yummy! We finally made it to Kierens and read a chapter with them. Kieren is really applying the scriptures to her life and loving the BoM! It is so amazing! That night we were sitting in our car at the end of a great day and had just prayed to receive a referral. We needed some new investigators and as we evaluated things we realized the best way to get solid new investigators was through referrals. As soon as Sister Holmgren finished praying, our phone rang and it was the sisters telling us all about Tommy! When they were teaching some of his friends Tommy would occasionally come over and listen in. He was reading from the BoM a bit and interested in learning more. When he moved to Monroe he asked if there were any missionaries he could meet with here. We knew right then and there that it was a miracle and made an appointment to visit him Saturday night!! When we got inside we had a fun encounter with a ginormous cockroach! Gremmy was terrified so I held her and finally convinced her it was safe to get into bed. Friday was taken up mostly by volunteering at FISH and weekly planning!

Saturday morning we did service at Sister Stones with the sisters! It was super fun and we were so sweaty! Sister Stone made us the most delicious BLTs for lunch! That afternoon we taught the Law of Chastity to the Carrolls. It was super awkward considering they are three boys ages 13, 12 and 9. They just hid under pillows and didn't talk much during this lesson. The poor 9 year old was just lost the whole time. Haha Sister Carroll told him not to worry that she would explain it later. That night we got to teach the referral from the Loganville sisters, Tommy. We took Sister Warren with us and it was like we were in a trio. Her and her husband recently returned home from a mission. Then went to meet Tommy and had the most incredible lesson. The spirit was so strong and as we taught him about the restoration he quickly recognized that it the spirit was confirming that what we were saying was true! As soon as I finished quoting the first vision he said "then they were able to tell him that the full truth was gone but needed to come back!" In amazement I said yes and we continued with the restoration lesson. He loved it and accepted the invitation to be baptized. We gave him a restoration pamphlet and he said he was so excited to study it on his hour lunch break and get as many questions as he can for us! He is so prepared and ready for this gospel. He loved as we taught him about a latter day prophet and can't wait to hold the priesthood himself. It was one of the best lessons of my mission!

Sunday we were a little low on numbers at church but it was a great day! Glenda and her sister Tonie were able to come and loved it! Sister Jones a less active woman who hasn't been to church in over 20 or 30 years walked in and it was so cool! After church we visited some less active families as usual and then finally got to go see Maw-Maw. She has been super busy and we haven't seen her in weeks. That night we went back to Glenda's and talked to her about praying about her baptism date. She said "I think we will go for the 16th of July!" We were so excited to hear that and it was so wonderful to see one of our investigators receive an answer to her prayer! It was another incredible week here and feel so blessed to be a missionary! It is the best decision I've ever made and I'm so grateful for your love and support. I couldn't do it without y'all! I hope all is going well, you're in my prayers! I love y'all!

Love, Sister Rachael Hosman❤️🍑