"The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have" Vince Lombardi

Last Monday, we had a district activity at the church where we were playing chair soccer and I totally won twice!  I lost once cause the elders ganged up on me, but then I won the next game :)

Milford Keller was interviewed this week for baptism!  We are so excited for him!  All that is left is to figure out how to actually get him baptized!  Pretty much the baptism font at our building is designed for really skinny people who are not in wheel chairs.  We are looking at hotels right now.  That should be interesting!  We just have to trust in God and keep praying that something will work out!   We talked with him about temples this week and he is so excited! He cannot wait to go to the temple and he also wants to go to the salt lake temple sometime in his life because it is so beautiful :)  He has also given us some referrals so that is super great! :)

This morning, Sister Shepherd had her doctors visit to find out what is going on with her knees.  It turns out her knees have hypo mobility so her kneecaps can move further than most peoples.  Since they are not staying in place, it has been giving her problems.  So now she has these enormous black braces to hold her kneecaps in place!  They are pretty great looking!

Aleena Fox just turned 8 this week so she could be baptized!  It was pretty funny cause the water was freezing!  She stuck a foot in and then you could hear her say, "do I have to get in?" her dad told her yes so she slowly got in.  And right after they were done baptizing her, she was out of there!  Ha ha, it was super comical how fast she was at getting out!  I am glad she did not slip or anything!

Anyway, I hope y’all have a fantastic week!

Sister Morris

Josie found a clam! (or is it a mussel or something?)

Sister Shepherd had to have a picture with the cow!
So funny we totally went to Chick-fil-a twice this week!
The Harwards' and the Foxs' took us there!

 Sister Whitaker saw us walking on the side of the road and she

knows that Sister Shepherd has bad knees so she told us to get in!Only the car was already full.... :)

 Waiting at the Doctors!
Look- We braided our hair last night!  Also trying to catch up on my journal writing...
I am soo behind!

LOOK- the chandlers ordered us a pizza!

“Action is the foundational key to all success ~Pablo Picasso

Sister Shepherd had a crazy dream this week involving Zombies and missionary work.  So apparently, we were at a hospital teaching people

and the elders come running down the hallway yelling, "why are you still here??  The zombies are coming!"  and we were like, "well, we need to teach these people even if they are going to turn into zombies!!"  haha.  That is dedication right there!

So at like four o'clock on Tuesday morning, our smoke detector started chirping.  We were trying to ignore it and sleep but it was soo irritating!  So at 6:30, we stacked a bunch of couch cushions on a chair and I stood up there to get it out.   But removing the battery didn’t work cause it was wired into the ceiling!  So we just had to put up with it until we could get to the main office and get some replacement batteries.  I totally wanted to murder it!  On Wednesday, Mark and Markie got baptized!! (They are 13 and 15 and have wanted to be baptized for quite some time but their mom would not let them.  Her heart has really been softened!)  There was an enormous turn out!  Because they have been coming to church for so long!  More than 60 people came!  It went really well too!   We did have a bit of a panic moment because we had set up a Facebook lesson for 7:30 but the baptism started late and wasn't over yet!   Luckily Sister Shepherd had her i-pad with her (she was sitting at the piano with me because she was giving a talk on baptism and her knees were super bad that day and she didn’t want to have to walk far) so we rescheduled.  Also, a lot of people thought Sister Shepherd and I were both playing the piano because she was pretending that she was.

Anyway, we rescheduled our Facebook lesson for the next night.  And since Sister Jenkins and Sheree Gay (Mark and markie's mom) took us to dinner near the church, we went back to the chapel after so we could use the Wi-Fi.  We were in the young women’s room when we hear someone coming down the hall and open the door.  Sister Shepherd was freaking out but it was just the elders.

So at Mark and Markie's baptism, we had everyone write testimony cards.  The problem is, we did not realize how many people would be showing up so we didn’t have as many cards as we needed.  This meant that everyone wrote one to mark and Markie.  So on Sunday, we had to go copy ALL of the cards!  It got super confusing!!  And our living room is a mess because we then had to cut them all out and whatnot.  Also at church, we were waiting for the bishop so we could get the baptismal and confirmation record signed and we started pulling out all our snacks (we had a lot because Sister Shepherd is hypoglycemic and we packed a lunch cause we knew we would not be able to get home for lunch) and then we started sharing them with everyone else who was waiting because they were all hungry too!  Good thing we carry a lot of food with us!  The members were actually making fun of us because we had so much food in our bags!

Hey, I am just always prepared for anything!

We got a great new investigator this week!  Her name is Helen and she is a referral from Sister Sweat.  She actually lives in High Point but since there are not any sisters there any longer and Helen's husband prefers she meet with sisters, we get to teach her!  Anyway, she is a Russian Jew who converted to Christianity in her teenage years.  She is really sweet and hilarious!!  We just love her!

Anyway, I hope y’all have a wonderful week!

Sister Morris

Taking a stroll around the lake

I got a new t-shirt!

I  am riding a broom in our apt :)

Markie is all ready to get baptized!

Mark and Markie with their dad

we went to the Buddha temple!

doing some scrap booking!

"I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination." Jimmy D Read

Hi Everyone!

So last p-day, we were driving home at about 8 or so and I got to a four-way stop sign.  I also saw a person riding a bicycle come up to the stop sign and I was just kind of hanging out at the stop sign, waiting.  Sister Shepherd was looking at me weirdly as I was just sitting there, and then this car just came speeding through the intersection, without even slowing down!  It is so crazy when the Spirit can direct us to do things, and it isn’t until after that we even realize we are following direction from Him!

It has been so cold this week!  A lot of people got frozen pipes!  We went with Sister Roma to visit her mother in a rest home and while we were there, the pipes burst!!  There was water everywhere coming out of the sprinklers in the dinning room and in the individual rooms!  What a mess!

Also this week, we set up an appointment to go meet with Christelle (she is a recent convert) but she forgot we were coming, so we had to reschedule for the next day.  When we got there, we found out that her uncle had passed away and she had found out just before we got there! It was really an amazing testimony to me that God will direct us because if we had not been there on that day, we would never have been with her in her time of distress.  Especially since all of her family is in Africa and she is the only one here in the US.

We also taught the Word of Wisdom to two people this week!  So first we were teaching Stephanie Jewell the Stop Smoking lesson (a program we have that helps people to stop in a week-it is super effective as long as they follow all the steps) and she gave us her cigarettes and lighters.  So later in the day, Sister Shepherd goes to pull out the phone and instead pulled out the cigarettes!   We also taught Milford about it so he immediately wanted us to take his tea away so it would not be a temptation.  So pretty much we have cigarettes, lighters, and tea.  Nice!  Anyway, Stephanie has really been struggling with not smoking because one of the steps is getting rid of anything that reminds you of smoking and staying away from smokers.  Unfortunately, her husband is not being very supportive and has been smoking inside the house since it is so cold out.  So we have started taking her to lessons with us instead so that she can have a break.  She is doing much better now!

Also, we are really excited for Mark and Markie Gay!  They are getting baptized on Wednesday!  yay!  Their mom has really had a softened heart towards their baptism and we actually got to meet with her on Friday!  And she signed up on our meal calendar!  (She is a member, but she fell away for a time.  It looks like she is now interested in coming back!) So because of the cold this week, Sister Shepherd's knees have been doing really badly.  They keep getting all swollen and she has a hard time walking (it is worse in the evening).  So this one night, we walked over to the clubhouse and taught a lesson.  Then we really slowly walked back (well I walked, she limped) home.  Once we get there, Sister Shepherd goes, "I left my i-pad at the clubhouse!!"  And there was no way I was letting her walk back there so we decided to use our bikes instead.  Then, brilliant idea- I put my bike back away and pushed Sister Shepherd's bike!  ha-ha I am sure people thought we were crazy!  A girl in a skirt on a bike and another girl in a skirt running behind her pushing the bike.

Anyway, I love y’all!

Sister Morris

This is Stephanie Jewell!  We love her!

We helped Lyssa move to Kennersville

 We visit Greenhaven pretty often to visit Milford Keller

Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see. CS Lewis

So funny moment of the week: we went to go see a referral from the Spanish elders and talked to them for a time.  Since there was no room on their street to park, we had parked on a different street and walked to their house.  After, we hop in the car and go to see a less active that wasn't home.  So I put the next person into the GPS and we arrive...in the exact place we had been parked before!  I had accidentally parked right in front of her neighbor's house without realizing it!

Also, super exciting news!  So Mark and Markie Gay are a brother and sister we have been teaching.  They are 15 and 13 and they were about to get baptized sometime ago, but their mom called salt lake and said her kids cannot get baptized!!  So we have been trying to get her permission for a very long time and she finally signed the paperwork this week!!  Brother Gay got up in testimony meeting and got all emotional as he said that he had been given the very best New Years gift ever; the signed paperwork for Mark and Markie to get baptized.

Our district also got effected by transfers because they took sister missionaries out of High Point! :(. Now there are only two sets of elders there so our district is two sets of elders and us now.  The new elders are really funny though!

Also, weird moment of the week!  So when Sister Tenney was here, we were biking one day and see this man sitting on his porch and he calls out to us and we pull into his driveway and start talking to him.  And it was really strange because he knew some thing's about our church, but also had some confused ideas.  We also met his sister Mary.  They are both there to take care of their mother.  Anyway, when we got home, I looked Jerry up on our i-Pads and turns out, he is a member! So this week, Sister Shepherd and I decided to drop by and check on them.  Mary opened the door and we started talking to her and at one point, she mentioned her daughter who has five kids.  We gave each other weird looks and asked her daughters name.  Sure enough, she is Betty's mom!  So strange!  It is a seriously small world!  Our current plan is to teach them, all and help them get baptized!  And bring Jerry back to church!

Brother and Sister Roma also took us to eat at the Olive Garden this week we just love them!  Sister Roma is a convert of a little over a year, but you would never know!  She is in the relief society presidency and is the sweetest lady ever! We also met a really great man, Brother Pierce, in our apt complex. We met him before Christmas twice and the second time, he told us we could come back and see him again and gave us his address.  Then, last night, we went and knocked on his door and this older lady answers and says she doesn’t know him and come back a different time.  So we leave and start walking around again.  And then Brother Pierce catches up with us a few minutes later and told us about how confused he had been when he was told "two girls who smiled a lot were at the door asking for you" it took him a minute to figure it out, and then he knew it was us so he put on his jacket and came looking for us.  During our conversation, he asked us if he could meet with us and learn more about the Book of Mormon.  We are going to go see him tonight with Sister Dolly!

Anyway, I hope y’all have a fantastic week!

Sister Morris

we finally went to the taco truck!! :)

Sister Whitaker took us and it was really good!

Sister Shepherd was especially excited

Sister Shepherd super loves biking!

Helping Sister Whitaker make dinner