"WE'RE STAYING!"

Yes. That's right. You read right. WE are staying. Sister Beech and I will both be in Durham for yet another transfer. NOT WHAT WE EXPECTED. It'll be great though! :) 6 months with one companion. Thank goodness we like each other... haha. That would be really rough. Anyway, I'm already the longest companion she has been with so might as well add another transfer!

We have been through so many big events together (and will go through even more by the end of next transfer). Here is a list of just a few: training both of our mom's birthdays, my dad's birthday, General Conference, Temple trip, Kaity's birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving,  Christmas, New Year's, Sister Beech's half mark, Sister Beech's year mark! That is a lot of big stuff! We are way excited for New Year's Eve!!! :) even if we still have a bed time. haha

I don't know if I have written about these before but I will share some funny things I have reflected on this week.

1. I went fishing for the first time. Yes. Yes, I did. It was magical. Haha jk. But here is the background story. My chains came off my bike. We were traveling to a members to have them fix it. We ran into two men fishing at this tiny lake/pond thing. He let me try. I squealed when I caught a fish. It was magical. haha I have never been fishing before and it was very exciting! 

2. Sometimes I boil water for Sister Beech's baths. Actually, more often than I can count... haha just call me Cinderella. haha just kidding. I love doing it for her. I think it's hilarious.

OKAY! This week has been incredible. Incredibly hard that is. And incredible. haha TRICKED YA. Sister Beech has been Sick and I have been doing my thang (having headaches and indigestion) and it's been a struggle. But we have seen miracles. One of those being... it was 70 degrees F for like 3 days. hahhaha it was magic. But today it's raining.

I will stop to tell a quick, humorous (if you like laughing at my misfortunes) story. Today we went on a quick walk for work out because Sister B hasn't had much strength lately. We didn't want to work out in our gym because we were too sick and we wanted fresh air. What a pleasant morning it was. Until we were 10 minutes away from our place and DOWNPOUR. We got soaked! If you know me, you know I don't like rain. haha it was rough, real rough. Especially since I just washed my hair yesterday. Sorry if you think I should be washing my hair everyday, I really don't want to. And the white handbook says "frequently" and not every day. So I'm good (IDK who I am directing that at... whoever I guess).

Ummm... if you want to read a good talk, read Elder Scott's from last conference. He says four things we need to if we want to build spiritual fortification between our shortcomings and our faithfulness. Here they are:

1) Temple Work for self and others- MAKE COVENANTS 2) Share the gospel. It will bless you and others. 3) Fulfill calling, especially home and visiting teaching. BE A REAL FRIEND to those you serve (imagine that). 4) Serve members of family. I LOVE THIS ONE!!!! :) Shout out to my great family.

Also, I loved this quote from Elder Nelson, "Indeed, wise men and women still adore Him." That's us! That's true disciples of Jesus Christ. That is the young and old who worship and follow our wonderful Savior Jesus Christ. I love Him with all my heart. He strengthens me each and every day. In the least cliche way. And that's coming from Sister Kristen Ray. So you know that it is not going to lead you astray. And you know that you won't have to pay. My advice is free. Please get on your knees. Pray to your Heavenly Father. I promise you won't be a bother. He loves you so much. No matter if you are Black, white, asian, or dutch. Please don't forget to read your scriptures daily. That's what my MTC teacher told me named brother Staley.

Have a very Merry Christmas. Don't forget to share the gospel and eat good food! I love you all and I CAN'T WAIT TO TALK TO MY FAMILY ON CHRISTMAS! WOOOOOOOOOOO!!! 

Being a missionary is so neat. NEAT NEAT NEAT. I love that word.

BYE! (*Sorry for the extra spunk today*)

 Extra Bonus Message:

This week we saw miracles. Our progressing investigator, Cynthia, made even more progress this week. We prayed and prepared a lot to figure out what we should teach her. She was keeping her commitments of reading and praying and we wanted to help her get her answer about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. We decided to apply what we learned from Zone Conference in Raleigh. We set our lesson around the commitment we wanted to extend. We wanted to commit her to the live the 10 commandments so that she would receive all the blessings that those laws are predicated upon, like it says in Doctrine and Covenants. We read the 10 commandments as found in Mosiah 13. She was very familiar with them in Bible, and although the Book of Mormon states the same doctrines, we know that there was a special power there because we were reading and teaching from the Book of Mormon. We read through all the commandments and stopped to talk about them as we went on. After we read about keeping the Sabbath day holy, Sister Beech and I explained the details of how to keep the Sabbath day holy, such as not spending money on Sunday. She was blown away by this doctrine. It made so much sense to her and she kept repeating how great that was and how she had never thought about it in that way before. She talked about how at other churches, hers included, people would get together after service and go out to eat. She said that she often brought her own lunch. We told her that she had already been keeping the Sabbath day holy for doing that! We made the connections to her that she needed. We told her that when the Great Apostasy happened, that could have been one of the great truths that was lost. It was amazing.

In that same lesson, we read Alma 7:11 and our member was so excited that we chose to read that one. She proclaimed, "That one is one of my favorites. We have to read verse 12 too!" It was wonderful that our member got involved and shared her love of this passage as well. We ended up reading Alma 7:11-14. The Spirit was so strong. I can feel a glimpse of it again as I type this. It was truly incredible. The room was silent and we were all just trying to soak it in. It was an incredible and inspiring lesson. Our member that was there was also inspired by this lesson. We were so grateful for the Spirit's presence in that lesson (seeing as Sister Beech and I were experiencing normal aches and tiredness of a missionary). The Spirit was able to take over, through us, and help us proclaim the truth of the Restoration. Cynthia was able to tell us about some problems she has with smoking and coffee addictions after she practically begged Sister Beech and I to tell her what she would need to do to prepare for baptism. It was fantastic. We have high hopes for her and we have great faith that she will be baptized in January.