Sissy

Hello y'all!!! 

This is a crazy week! Well I am being transferred, we are being whitewashed. It is so hard and I don't really want to leave, but it's okay because it's meant to happen! I really enjoyed being here and learning and growing from the people I got to serve! The Ward isn't happy about us leaving, we jus got sisters back and now they are taking them away, it's so hard! 

We got the call on Saturday afternoon from our mission president, he left s voicemail telling us to call him, so we did and he said "Sisters, your both leaving your area, you need to pack up, we have Elders coming in" My mouth dropped and I said "What!?!?" Side note.....we have 5 progressing investigators on date, one this weekend. I  can't tell you what was going through my mind. It is hard leaving my first area, I love the people here! So so much! I am really going to miss our investigators! Looking at the glow in their eyes after teaching them made missionary work so much fun! they are amazing and I can't wait to see them again! 

I don't have any idea of where I am going but, tomorrow we will know where I am going and who my companion is. The suspense is real. We have a transfer meeting and all those that are being transferred will meet together, and then we get paired up with our new companions and head to our new areas! 

Church was great though, I learned so much! Some stuff I wanted to share was; we want to be around people who inspire us. As we strive to share the gospel of everyone we will be blessed and be able to bless someone else's life. Make a difference in the world by what we do and say, we are all representing Jesus Christ. As a missionary it can be hard to know where to go and where to be directed but as we pray  for help and guidance on where to be led and guided and directed God will help us. We want to look and pray for opportunities to serve God's children each day. 

District meeting was super great as well! When you pray for guidance and strength we are able to access the enabling power of the atonement. Let me give you a commitment,  make your weaknesses your strengths! I promise it will help strengthen your relationship and love for the Gospel! Believe in yourself because God stands right beside us through it all! 

As we exercise our faith we will learn to be obedient. We want to exercise righteously because we want and have the desire to! Think about how you can strengthen your testimony and your faith in Jesus Christ, just remember that faith is an action verb and we have to act in order to strengthen our love and relationship with him. 

Something I focused on this week is how We need to study with a purpose or with a subject in mind, it doesn't matter what you study, just as long as you actually study, no shortcuts, no secrets! We need to experience the Spirit and not have a check list!! When we as missionaries study for our investigators it makes our studies so much more meaningful! One other important key to studying the Scriptures is listening, it's not about the quantity but the quality! How ready are we to receive the blessings heavenly father wants and try's to gives us through reading our scriptures?

Look up, get up, & never give up!! 

I love you and hope you have a great week!

Kallie and her district

Louie Lou

My companion and I spent the whole night in the bathroom. Vomiting and with terrible diarrhea. (I'm sparing you the gory details--trust me!) I guess I am still not used to the fruits here I guess.... But because I'm not functioning properly, I will do my quick copy-and-paste emails and wish you all the best week! :)

"Our week was interesting. We had a really cool lesson on Thursday where an investigator who wasn't all that positive (She's a viejita that assists a different church....) had a really interesting dream the Sunday before when we took her grandson to church. She said that she was half-awake when we came to the door to pick up Fernando, but we didn't enter the room alone. There was this tall, white man with us--white as in Gringo, but also dressed in white. He just shined, she said. And she told us that she knew it was revelation from God telling her that He....anda con nosotras? Umm....how do I say that.....He is with us? Anyway. She thought it was the coolest thing ever and ended up committing to come to church with us. She ended up not coming, but allowed her grandson to, so we'll get her next week! But that's not the best part.

Saturday rolls around and we went with one of the mujeres jovenes that lives nearby to have a lesson with the grandson and this lady. We talked about the importance of coming to church and taking the Sacrament--it was a great lesson!--until a neighbor stopped by. This lady goes to an iglesia evangelica and came in and started to say all kinds of "nice" things about the Church. She couldn't even say José Smith's name right! She said that we don't believe in God and that José Smith ("Mizmeet" as she would say.... :/) was a prophet of the devil. All sorts of terrible things like that--I thought my companion was going to have a cow. We've seen opposition as a companionship like this before, but not THIS bad. haha But everytime we tried to say something, she just cut us off. It got so bad that our investigator--this viejita who had had that cool dream the week before--started to defend the Church! I was.....so proud of her in that moment! I know that the Spirit is working on her. With time she will be able to make the decision to assist with us and will one day enter the waters of baptism. I know she will! As for our lovely visitor, she.....well....needless to say that she did NOT accept the invitation to be baptized on the 18 of Julio. I just pray that her heart will be softened and the missionaries in the future can find her and help her distinguish between the lies of others and the actual truth. 

I love her anyway. And I know Heavenly Father does too. She even prayed for us, President! She came and touched our heads and arms and blessed us with safety and that the bad men on the street will leave us alone and she said something about "falta de respeto...." I hope she wasn't referring to us. Because we did NOT have a falta de respeto! Maybe she was asking forgiveness for the falta de respeto that she had shown to us.... A saber. But all I can say is that this mujer joven that came with us was just......peeved with this lady. She shared her testimony, too, and as we left, we talked about how grateful we are to belong to the one and only true church of Jesus Christ.

I love Heavenly Father. I love Jesus Christ. I am grateful to José Smith for being a worthy instrument in the hands of the Lord to be able to restore Christ's Church again on the earth today. I would be ever so lost if I didn't have the guide of this gospel in its fulness. All that I am and all that I will be is because a boy of 14, went into the woods to pray, and I decided to do the same. Tal vez I didn't go to the woods, but I have prayed and I have received that witness. It is because of that witness that I am here. I love being able to invite everyone to do the same each and every day and to act on that answer to receive His blessings."

I love and pray for you all. :) Thanks for being such a great support for me.

Love Always,

Hermana McCulloch

Charlie Bug

Hey Everyone!!!

Well This week was super Crazy!!!! 

Had a meeting on Thursday in Macon, and another in North Augusta. 

The meeting on Thursday is what I learned in Salt Lake, 1st Transfer meeting. 

It was super fun. It was great to come back together and see the MTC District of Macon Georgia again!! 

My Toe is getting better!! found out that I had a little hole in the inside of my shoe at the top!! 

Well the meeting on Friday was Zone conference. It was super fun. Sister Miller and I had a rode trip up there. We left at 6:20 and arrived at8:20. It was a very long day. we got back around 9 because we stopped and ate dinner. 

Well just to say I have watched meet the Mormons about 3 times this week and it has been really cool!! 

We watched it with Less actives and an investigator. 

I really love it!! I finally got the chance to watch it!! 

Well I hope everyone's week went well!! 

Thanks for all you Do!! 

This is the picture of the ones that came out with me!! Have a wonderful day!!

Lonnie

Hola !
Hermana McCulloch had no time this week to write so she says hi and sends her love.  Next week she'll have the miraculous story of this week's baptism.  She also hopes to have a picture to add.  She said the computers in her area need a lot of help and that all her time went to reading emails.
Thank you for writing her.  I know how much she enjoys hearing from everyone.
Have a great week!

Charlie

Hey Y'all 

So This week is Week 4!! Wow it was crazy just to plan for week 4 was so strange!! 

Well just to say this week was a little died!! Nothing much happen. 

The worst thing but probably not the cool thing was I got a ingrown toenail that my companion thinks might me infected. But we called the nurse in our mission and she told me to soak it in warm water. So I believe everything is going to be okay!! 

But running is going to have to pause for a little while. :( But it is for the better!!) 

Well we had a zone Training meeting!! During our break we shoot free throws and who ever makes it gets to be in the next round to win the Prize. Well I got out the first round. Everyone knows my basketball skills are not the best!! 

Well just saying on Saturday we went and helped a less active family weed their flower garden. Wow I have never have dripped off sweet before in my life until then. It felt gross. 

I was super excited to help weed and see a great improvement. Well things are going great in this little small town. 

Well this week is going to be a crazy week. Thursday and Friday have meeting and traveling to the meetings all day. I will tell you how it goes there. 

Well I am learning lots and lots about my area each day I am here. 

The branch here really wants a ward. They are having a missionary fireside on the 28 and we are speaking at it. To let the branch really get excited about missionary work and want to help us find someone to teach. 

Well I hope everything is going great where ever you are in the world. 

Have a great week!!! 

Matthew 25 is a great chapter to read to help us get ready/ be ready for the 2nd coming. Especially the story of the 5 wise and the 5 foolish!! I sure do love that parable!! Well have a great week!!

Love ya all!!!! 

Have the best week of your entire life!!! 

Kallie

What a week, what a week!!!

I don't know what it is, but when we have a bad week, the next week seems to be so much better! Pray for miracles and you will receive miracles!!

Tuesday was a really interesting day, we met someone named Ava! She requested a Bible in really excited to go give it to her and be able to explain the restoration. Little did we know she would bible bash with us, it was an intense conversation!! She told us how there are only two spirits on earth, Satans  spirit and Jesus Spirit! If you follow Jesus Christ you have the spirit but if you don't then you have the Devils. It was really awkward! We told her how we all have a spirit and it's our spirit and she said no, you don't have a body, your nothing because it's Jesus Spirit and he can take it away.  I stopped her in the middle of her rant and told her to stop, I told her "if you don't believe in what we share then that's fine, we are only here to share what we have to say and its your choice to accept it " she continued to tell us how wrong we were and that she feared for our lives! She asked If she could pray for us and we said yes, she started to raise her hands and yell loud and said that she wants the devil shaken out of us, I started busting up laughing, in the middle of the prayer and couldn't control myself, after the prayer was over she look at us and said, the job is done!  We left with our testimony with her and said If she was interested she could call us, it won't happen! 

Sunday was the best day ever! Not just because it was church but  because of what happened and the spirit that was there. During Sunday school we were able to talk about baptism, we broke up into groups and I was paired up with one of our investigators Kimberly! The question that she had is Why are we baptized? I had her turn to 2 Nephi 31 and as she read she started to tear up, she read 2 Nephi 31:13 and said that that was the verse!  The verse says "
13 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I know that if ye shall follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that ye are willing to take upon you the name of Christ, by baptism--yea, by following your Lord and your Savior down into the water, according to his word, behold, then shall ye receive the Holy Ghost...." She turned to me with a tear in her eye and said that feels like she is having that change of heart, That She is doing what God wants her to do! 

It is amazing to see how god has prepared her and the change she has made in her life!! We are so so so excited for her and the choice how to be baptized!! 

We were on the exchanges this week and we were able to have so many experiences, we taught so many children of God! And help bring many people closer to Jesus Christ! The exchange was almost over and. we were going to get in contact with one of our potential investigators,  before it was too late , her neighbor was getting out of her car,  we decided to say hello to her and start a conversation with her. Can't recognize us as representatives of Jesus Christ! We were able to discuss the Book of Mormon and that it can bless our lives,  she said she has one but has never read it before, she said that she wants to read it and would love us to come and read with her! Yes!!! She is golden!! As we were leaving, she was pulling food out of her car and her daughter said mom there are no biscuits in here, and she was planning on eating biscuits!  And the best southern voice possible she said "we drove 45 minutes no biscuits!?!? oh you better believe it when I get back in the house I am going to call them! That is not right!" Oh my goodness I was dying of laughter!!! 

It truly is a great blessing to be able to be a missionary! Even through all the crazies and rough people! It's hard work but it's definitely worth it! I still have no idea what I am doing but,  two people can do anything if one of them is the Lord! I have held onto that saying since the beginning of my mission! 

I have learned so much and grown so much and I am still continuing to grow and learn! It's the best and I love every minute of it! Even through all the fears and tears, I am being molded and shaped the way God wants me to be! 

Scripture of the Week: Mosiah 24:16 "And it came to pass that so great was their faith and their patience that the voice of the Lord came unto them again, saying: Be of good comfort, for on the morrow I will deliver you out of bondage." I love this scripture because it teaches, that if we have that faith in Jesus Christ that all things will be okay, just because we are having a hard time, doesn't mean that we need to blame God for what happens, we will be okay, God will help us and lift us up out of our trials and our difficulties! Trust in God 24/7! He is there to help you and to lift you up through everything! 

Story of the Week: 

I wanted a watermelon today and well....I was knocking on a watermelon to decide which one was good or not, as I was knocking and picking them up and putting them down, a little girl stared and me and said " Mom....Why is she knocking on a watermelon..." And with a stare in her face looked at me as if I was crazy! All I wanted was a good watermelon and this watermelon is good!! Knocking pays off!!! ;) 

I hope you have a blessed week!! Sure love y'all!

Sister McCulloch 

Happy news...

                             Lonnie and Kallie both had baptisms this week...so happy dance!!!!

Amy

Hector

When Ben was serving in Michigan, Elder Bednar spoke to both Michigan missions.  He told them that counting baptisms, comparing missions, aspiring to leadership callings, and bragging of any sort regarding any of these is priestcraft and they ought not to be doing this.  So with that said, we are NOT keeping a tally or bragging...we are CELEBRATING!!!  (This is the first time during Lonnie's mission that she has allowed me to share this news.  She has always been super sensitive about this because it was so hard for her dad.  He'd listen to his brothers and friends talking about all their baptisms and because he didn't baptize anyone felt like the biggest loser.)

  "And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!"

                                             Doctrine and Covenants 18:15