Meetings, Road Trips and Interviews!!

July 18, 2016

Hey Family,

Sounds like y'all have had a busy week and have been working on the lawn. I am excited to see how it looks. It has been an eventful week with driving all over places and having interviews with President.

We had a pretty fun p-day! We got to play some Phase 10 and it was pretty hilarious, also I won which made me happy even though I don't know how, haha! After we played some games we headed out with Sister Turley to go see Latoria, but she had told us that she wasn't available so we decided to go and try people in Leland. We tried a handful of less-actives but none of them were home so Sister Turley drove us to where Bro Turley works. We got to see his cotton fields and it was pretty cool to see what cotton fields looked like and hopefully I can find some before coming home. We were able to stop by the Spranggins and visit with them and talk about family history. It was a good conversation and Sister Spranggins loves family history. We were sad that we didn't really get to see anyone but that’s okay. Also we found out that Kermit the Frog was created in Leland which is pretty awesome.

Sister Herron was able to go out with us this week and I love her and her willingness to come out with us. We were going to try Francine Gray but she had a doctor’s appt. but we got to help her out in her lawn and spend time with her. We also got to spend time at St. Vincent’s which that is one of my favorite parts of the week and being able to talk with all those that work there is so much fun!! Then when we got home, we made some brownies for Debbie because her nephew just passed away unexpectedly and we thought that these brownies would brighten her day. Then we got to go over and give them to her and she was very grateful for them. She is such a sweet lady and does so much for us and is just great!!

We got to go down to Clinton this week for ZTM and that is always fun to see other missionaries. During the meeting, we talked about the importance on prayer and fasting and how it helps us a lot in our missionary work. It was a really great meeting and was able to learn a lot. After, we got to go on exchanges with the STL's which it is funny because they are in a trio. Sister Frandsen, Harrison and Mozingo (Sister Frandsen is going home 3 weeks early so they in a trio till then). Wednesday evening, Sister May, Mozingo and I went to try some potentials and then we tracted for a little bit which it went pretty good. Then on Thursday, I got to go out with Sister Harrison and we had a good day with trying to visit people and did some tracting. One guy slammed the door in our face which was pretty nice, but we got to talk with one guy and he was pretty open and kind. Hopefully the sisters can try him again. After we met the other sisters at Dickey's BBQ and grabbed some lunch, which was pretty good. Then Sister May and I drove over to pick the elders up in Brandon.

So we had a fun adventure going back to Greenville. The GPS was taking us towards Canton, which is in a totally different direction then the way we needed to go. So we then made our way through Yazoo City and I have no idea where i am. Then the GPS took us on a dirt road though some fields and it was just crazy. But we were just laughing cause that's all we could do and just trying to lighten the mood. Finally, we were able to make it back to Greenville after a 3 hour road trip. We got back in time to drop the elders off at their apt and then drive to the church for the Relief Society Activity. The theme of the activity was honey bees and there was a great turn out. Latoria was able to come with her daughter which we were pretty happy about. The activity went very well and as we were driving home, there was a really bad storm and when we got home, the power was out again. We used our flashlights to get a few things done and it was starting to get hot in the apt. Then after about an hour and a half while we were laying down, the power came back on and that made us happy.

We got to have FHE at Sister Washington's and she had some of her grandkids come over for it. One of the girls had said that she had a Book of Mormon and after FHE we felt the prompting to give her our card and to just give us a call if she needed anything.

We had a really long day Saturday. We were going to go to the farmer's market to give out some cards, but when we got there, there was no body there. So we just decided because we were in the Elder’s area, that we would just try to find some less-active members. So we drove around and the Elders area is mostly ghetto and so when we would pull up to a house, we didn't get out because it just didn’t feel right. And then the GPS was being lame again and taking us to all of these weird places. Then we went over to Chara's house to have BBQ and to celebrate her birthday. We had a fun time and the food was really good. We had hamburgers, hotdogs and some ribs.

So I was supposed to speak on Sunday, but they switched it so that I would speak the next Sunday on the 24th. So it's nice that I have an extra week to prepare my talk. Church went normal, we had some people from the stake there to speak and none of our investigators showed up. After church we had interviews with President and he showed up late. He then told us that his GPS took him on a dirt road and to an old broken down bridge. He now understands what we go through, haha!! So I was the first to have interviews with him and it went very well. He asked how I was doing and just checking on me. He has seen that I have changed a lot and my confidence has grown. It was a very great lesson.

But then everything changed when we all got in the car and was informed of some changes that needed to happen. President said that he doesn't want us having dinner with the other missionaries at the Turley's unless an investigator is there and doesn't want us eating at the time we are eating at. I was pretty upset about that because the Turley's are really the only members that feed us and it’s a time that we can just be ourselves and it has been really hard. Also, he doesn't want us to do service at St. Vincent's anymore because it interferes with our personal study time which makes me really sad because I love St. Vincent's so much and we are doing so much there. St. Vincent's makes up our service hours each week and now our service will be low or none at all. So I am just trying to relax and figure everything out. I just feel like all the fun and good about the area is getting taken away.

Love and miss y'all!!! See ya in 30 days.

Sister McKenna O'Connor

Road Trip to Zone Conference