If ugly was a religion, you'd be shoutin right now

Hola Hola!!!

The subject of this email is courtesy of Sister Rogers :) She is an
older black lady in our ward and always says the most hysterical
things. She is so great. All of these members and their sacrifices and
devotion is so inspiring to me. Hopefully one day I can be just as
faithful and wise and crazy as some of these members are. I have so
much floating around in my brain in what I want to tell y'all I don't
even know where to start!

Well we had many many meetings this week. We were down in Tupelo
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Friday for zone conference and Saturday
and Sunday for Stake conference meetings. To say that we have been
spiritually fed would be an understatement. There are so many great
things happening in the Lord's vineyard! And can I just say I will
probably never complain about long car trips again. With being Sister
Training leader and traveling all over Alabama, and now being on the
outskirts of the mission and having to go to a gazillion meetings, I
would say I have had my fair share of car trips. Anywho, There were so
many great things we learned these past few days with trainings on
baptism, the holy ghost, strengthening the ward, the atonement, and
tenacity (president loves him some tenacity.) President and Sister
Hanks are amazing and we are so blessed to have them in our mission.

Due to the fact that we had stake conference this Sunday all the way
down in Tupelo, we didn't have any investigators at church this
Sunday. This is the first week since I've been here that we haven't
had anyone at church. We truly have been blessed! And it has nothing
to do with us, but always the Lord. We do however have one of our
investigators getting baptized! Shay has officially committed to a
date! We saw her this week and she was all, "I'm ready." She just gets
it and I love it. She's going around telling everyone that she is
getting baptized :) She still needs to come to church one more time
and she will be out of week this coming saturday due to Thanksgiving,
but we set a date for the 7th of December and she is ready to prepare
for that.

Rey and Jesus.... I don't even know what to say about them. I just
love them and I am always so happy when we get to talk to them but
they will not commit! They're a bit frustrating to say the least! We
saw Rey last night and I seriously wanted to cry. I just wish that all
these people could understand what a blessing all of this could be in
their lives! It just makes so much sense and not only does it have
sense, it's all about hope! Hope for a better tomorrow, hope for a
better you. But, president shared a quote this week that I thought
applied well, "A man convinced against his will, is of the same
opinion still." Just read the book. The Book of Mormon. It changes
lives. Nuff said. Agency is frustrating. But I love it! OH! and one of
our members who took us down to Tupelo on Saturday, Sister Cartwright,
said something that I really liked. "God wants us to choose him."
Doesn't that just sum up why we have agency?? I thought it did :)

Our meeting on Saturday night was all about "Hastening the work of
Salvation" and it was the adult session. One of the speakers talked
about having our homes be the way we do missionary work by being an
example and teaching the children early on to be missionaries. I
realized that Mom and Dad, y'all did a pretty darn good job at that. I
didn't realize that we had been doing all of these things on a regular
basis and what a blessing it was until I got here and realized that
not every family does it! FHE, scripture study every night, daily
family prayers, etc... I love y'all. And I'm so grateful.

Other goodness that happened this week and things I learned. One of
the spanish people were teaching is a member! She was baptized when
she was 9. She's so cute, she said she would always tell her parents
they needed to go after they stopped going, but to no avail. Just a
testimony builder to me that the Lord is aware of his Children! I love
all of these beautiful missionaries, they help build my testimony. If
you are ever put in jail, fake crazy because apparently the regular
cells are cold, but if you're crazy they will give you a straight
jacket and put you in a warm room ;) Being a missionary is awesome!

Came across a scripture this week and sent it to president,

Alma 2:30 And it came to pass that Alma, being a man of God, being
exercised with much faith, cried, saying: O Lord, have mercy and spare
my life, that I may be an instrument in thy hands to save and preserve
this people.

That being said, it would be great if my “missionary life” could be
spared, “that I may be an instrument in [the Lords] hands to save and
preserve” these wonderful southerners ;) extension??... No I'm just
playing! I wouldn't do that to you mom! Plus, I'm quite positive they
don't let anyone extend anymore.

Mom and dad, the floors look amazing! I miss y'all and love y'all!
Thank you for the prayers, keep sending them! Grams and Gramps, I hope
you are enjoying Russia!!! Brayden, I have a letter for you but it
got sent back because I didn't put enough stamps on it... I'll send it
again! And tell Eli, I miss his non-filtered voice ;)

Love, Hermana Decker

"She don't got the sense God gives a stupid goose!"

Hola Hola!!!!

The longer I am out here on the mission, the more and more I have come
to understand the infinite love that God has for each of us and each
of his children. And let me tell ya, it has been extremely humbling as
well. I didn't realize how prideful and self centered I was until I
had to take a step back and really rely on the Lord. (I'm sure y'all
are thinking, well yea Masey, we all knew it ;) ) And it's not even a
"Wow, I'm better than everyone" kind of pride, but a "Why am I NOT as
good as others." kind of pride. But the longer I'm out here, I've come
to realize that I really do need to rely on the Lord, and so does each
of us. I was reading a talk by Elder Soares from this last conference,
"Be Meek and Lowly in Heart," and he talks about taking up our cross
each daily. We take it one day at a time. We pray for our "daily
bread" to make it through the day and if we didn't to so hot one day,
we tell ourselves we will do better tomorrow. That's what the gospel
is all about, and that's what missionary work is all about. For
instance, our numbers were not quite up to par this week ;) But we
fulfilled our purpose. We take a look at our numbers and say, "Well,
how can we do better next week." I just LOVE this Gospel and the
Atonement! That's what we are trying to get all of our investigators
to figure out! There is so much hope to all of this!

Well, Jesus didn't come to church this week... We aren't quite sure
what's up. We saw him Saturday night and he said he was coming, but he
didn't. We called him yesterday and all seemed well. We are going to
see him tonight so hopefully we can figure out what's going on. Rey
didn't come either. He didn't have an excuse, he was just being lazy.
He knows it too :) We went to see him and taught him some good stories
about faith and he prayed with us!!!!!!!! Like, for reals this time.
No just reading what we wrote. After much persuasion and tears (nah
just kidding) he finally prayed. He's all embarrased about it, but
he'll get over it. And he's all like, "Well this decision is going to
change my whole life" and we were like, "Well duh!". So he's starting
to get it.

You know what's the worst! When your investigator gets arrested. Yep.
It happened. Shay, our beloved lovely Shay was driving under the
influence. Which by the way, we had just taught her the Word of
Wisdom! She was a bit intoxicated. But! She took the word of wisdom
like a champ! Especially considering she has to give up pretty much
everything on that list besides illegal substances. She was all
gung-ho about it and we made some awesome plans. She was like,
"Alright, cofee and tea first!" She's amazing. We know it's mega hard
to give up all of those things so we are being patient. She is trying
really hard. And hey, we have been praying super hard that she will be
able to do it! and she decided to take the 2 weeks in jail because she
doesn't want to pay the fee... which means none of that for 2 weeks. I
don't know if it's an answer to our prayers, but I do know the Lord
works in mysterious ways :D BTW, why do we not have more soul in our
church?! I am all over that! Shay's girls sang us a song, "Take me to
the King," and Hermana Barroso and I are all for getting some more
Black music in the church ;)

We did have one investigator at church on Sunday. Denise with the 3
crazy little boys!! I didn't have to translate this week, which was
nice because I actually got to sit in on a sacrament meeting, but I
got to entertain 3 little lovely children :) She seemed to like it,
but they couldn't stay for all of the 3 hours because the boys
wouldn't go to class and she didn't want to bring them to sunday
school. Poco a poco!

We did a lot of service this week. We raked the leaves of a less
active, made cookies, and had the opportunity to help down in Tupelo
for "The Week of the Family." Can I just say that Hermana Barroso is a
boss at service. I feel like she was sent to the mission now to help
move the mission in more of a service oriented direction. She always
wants to help somebody. The less active we have been serving has
finally opened up and wants us to come teach her. Before, she was
closed off to any of that. We also met some great people while we were
down in Tupelo. It was a lot of fun! What a great opportunity to show
people that we are normal people and love our family and love to
serve. We got to wear normal clothes too! We worked at the bean toss
the whole time and it was a lot of fun. I just wanted to take all
those cute little kids with me! Apparently the Tupelo missionaries are
teaching a lot of families from it.

Our ward mission leader moved :( It's definitely a bummer because he
was amazing. Better than any I have had thus far. I just wanted to
share a little bit of something he shared with us missionaries at our
correlation meeting on Sunday. He talked about statistics from the
church that said that missionaries have to knock 1000 doors to get 1
baptism. But, when a member invites someone over to their home to take
the first discussion someone will be baptized 1 out of 7 times. That
is a drastic difference if you ask me. It all goes along with the
whole obedience thing. Naaman had to bathe himself 7 times to be
cleansed. Not 6, not 8, but 7. The prophet has recieved revelation for
this day, and his call for all of us is to work together in this work
of salvation as members and missionaries. When we are obedient, we
will see miracles.

Oh and if y'all get the chance. Check out the mormon message "Fork in
the Road" by Elder Holland. I feel like he explains the spirit a lot
more adequately than I can ;)

Les Quiero muchisimo!!! I miss y'all too! Brayden, you're a boss! Keep
up the good work! Mom and Dad, get some sleep!!! Grandma and Grandpa,
I'm so excited for y'all! The new little baby cousin is adorable! I
want to hold him! Congrats Matt Woll family!

Love, Hermana Decker

Happiness!!

HOLA!!!!

Life is splendid in good ol' Mississippi! I love being a missionary :)
There are really so many great people down here. This week has been
fantastic! I am grateful for the little things that just make me smile
every day. Here's about the run down of the week: volleyball and
frisbee, lots of biking, awkward district meetings, wonderful
investigators, cat poop on my companion :) , horses, lost name tags, a
kiss from a little 3 year old (not aloud by the way!), trailers!,
mexican restaurants, dancing latinos, and cheesecake. I love that we
can just laugh and smile about everything.

We went to Tupelo on Monday for our zone activity. We got to wax our
cars, eat pizza, and play. That was nice to just relax with everyone
for a while. Soreness followed, but that's all good. Not to mention,
missionaries waxing cars is more like a government job where about 4
people do it and everyone else watches :) But hey, we're not getting
payed. On Tuesday we had the opportunity to go help a member's
non-member friend on her ranch! Now I am officially southern. We
mostly just helped with the horses which I wasn't to excited about
since horses scare me ;) But! by the end, I warmed up to them! Messy
job it is! They lady is fantastic, she should already be a member, her
husband just doesn't like the whole mormon "cult" idea. Afterwards we
went to the members house in Iuka to get all cleaned up so we could go
visit some members out there and I forgot my shoes... I only had to
wear my tennis shoes for a little bit before we found some that could
actually fit me. Curse my giant feet! It's all good though, I just
looked like a pentacostal for a few hours.

We had District meeting on Wednesday and the District Leader asked
Sister Barroso and I if we would give a training on baptismal
invitations since we had the most last week. (We are starting to count
them to illicit more invitations to baptism so we can actually get
some!). Well, I've done my fair share of training in meetings, so I
tried to let Sister Barroso take over for most of it, but I had the
grand idea to liken it to asking people on dates. (Dating and
missionary work should just stay far apart in the first place). But I
thought it was something everyone could relate too. Suffice it to say,
I said something dumb and now the elders won't let me live it down.
It's a blessing to be able to just laugh things off. Oh and I played
the piano beautifully (horribly) because nobody in our district can so
that was something to laugh off too! So there you have it boys, learn
ya some hymns before you get out on the mission!

We are still teaching Jesus. I just love that man! He has such good
intents and he just wants to be better. He came to church again! This
will be the 6th or 7th time, so we know at least he likes church
enough to keep coming. We had a lesson this week and set a baptismal
date finally! He is set for November 23rd. He still says he is not
quite sure if it is something that he wants or is ready for, but we
just keep encouraging him to read and pray everday. It's frustrating
because I think he has recieved an answer, he just hasn't realized it.
He has a hard time recognizing the spirit, which I can completely
understand, it's even hard for me! but, he loves all that we have
taught him... I am just praying my heart out that we can figure out
how to help this man. Our future branch president!

Rey, his son, has started to move backwards a bit. He hasn't come to
church these past couple weeks. He is going through some hard times
right now with a divorce, hardly any work to make a living off of,
friends moving, etc.. But he sees how this gospel could be a blessing
for him and he keeps telling us that he hopes we don't feel like we
are wasting our time teaching him, he just is moving slower. He wants
this though, I can see it in him. For his son, and for his mom and
siblings back in Mexico. Sometimes I wish I could just put what I know
into our investigators brains! But I guess that's what this gospel is
all about, finding out for yourself.

We haven't been able to see Shay this week... She moved this week so
we went over to help her a bit, but we haven't been able to sit down
with her. Everytime we try to teach the Word of Wisdom, something
comes up. Which is frustrating because that's about the only thing
that would be holding her back from baptism. The adversary is a bum.
Also we are working with Denise and her 3 lovely little terrors of
boys. I just love them! Cruise, her littlest, is the one who planted
one on me this week. What can you do when it comes out of the blue?
Nah he just got my cheek, but they're the cutest. I just want to take
them all home with me! Teaching Denise is merely impossible though
with them running around!

We had 4 families of investigators come to our Halloween party at the
church on Wednesday! That was a blessing. Now we just have to convince
them to come to church! I love activities though, because they give
our investigators a chance to come to church in a non-threatening
atmosphere and they can see that the members are just normal people.
They all loved it, so hopefully that's at least a foot in the door.

Yesterday Rey made us dinner :) He had us over and he's all, "Y'all
going to come in?" and we were like, "We can't! Why do you think we
teach you outside all the time?!" He said he was going to have one of
his lady friends over, but she didn't end up coming. So we ended up
eating outside and he invited his dad, Jesus, over, so we had a good
time with some good ol' Mexican food. Apparently Jesus used to teach
dancing so he showed us some of his moves. These are the moments I am
grateful for :)

On Halloween it rained like nobodies business. We went to this place
where we have "potential investigators" who don't know they are yet ;)
We stop by and eat there sometimes. It's called "The Barn" (at least
that's what we call it). So it was a good evening... Besides the fact
I lost my tag. But! I found it again. Prayer works!

I know this area will take off soon. I can see it in the members and
in the missionaries here, it may just be after we all leave. Starting
the Spanish is difficult because they really don't have a foundation
to go off of. We're just praying we can get a rock solid investigator
to start it all!

I love you all! Thanks for the pictures. I can't believe how grown up
all the kids look! Y'all are getting so big :') Mucho amor! Love,
Hermana Decker

Hola

Y'all know that saying by Charles Dickens, "It was the best of times,
it was the worst of times"? I feel that pretty sums up a typical day
of a missionary ;) With so many things going on around us, you would
think it was the worst of times. Satan works harder on us as
missionaries than ever before, and on our investigators like nobodies
business. But! We have the gospel. What is more better than the
wonderful assurity that no matter what happens, no matter what we do,
Christ's grace is enough to save us all and to bring light in
darkness. That's why I love being a missionary :) I have never seen
the grace of Christ work so much not only in my life, but those around
me. So I'm grateful for that.

You know what else I'm grateful for? Service. Nothing softens a
persons heart more than service! And it doesn't just soften the heart
of the recipient but of the one giving the service as well. Sometimes
I'm in a bad mood (I know crazy right) but as much as I want to throw
myself a pity party, service heals a hardened heart. Everytime I feel
that way, I think of what President Hinckley's dad said to him,
"Forget yourself and get to work." And it is so true, when you lose
yourself for Christ sake, you find yourself. Anywho, we have been
serving this one Less Active, who was pretty much forced into being a
member by her crazy ex and now, she told us she would like us to come
back sometime and teach her! Elders have been trying forever to teach
her but she wouldn't have it. Service. It opened her heart to hear
more because service is the gospel. All this teaching is just a branch
off all of that.

Jesus came to church again! (I never get over how funny that sounds ;)
) This guy is a crack up. I wish y'all could meet him. He is the
funniest little ol' mexican you will ever meet. And he's the cutest.
He's progressing slowly but surely. This week we really focused on
doing the daily stuff like reading and praying. Seriously, if
investigators would just do that, we would have baptisms out of the
wawzoo... (I don't know if that's how you spell it). I don't know if
we can pound it into his head anymore than we already have. He is just
waiting for his answer, but he doesn't understand, you gotta read the
dang book! Really though, power of the Book of Mormon, it's real.

Rey is being a drama king ;) No not really, he's going through some
rough stuff right now financially so instead of coming to church on
Sunday where he could be healed by Jesus, he decided to go to the gym.
Haha. He is getting closer to baptism though, I can just feel it! We
had a really good lesson with him yesterday. We talked about 3 Nephi
13:33, seeking first the kingdom of God. Oh! he also came with us this
week to a members house to eat dinner and watch the restoration. Note:
starting a spanish branch in a room full of gringo americans is like
trying to... well, it's hard. I havent been down in the south enough
to come up with a good analogy ;) It's a good thing we got Christ and
his spirit on our side ;) And can I just say that Satan is a bum! He
tried to throw everything at Rey so he couldn't come with us to that
members. But he made it! Anyways, he's getting there. Soon.

Shay came to church! Woot! I don't know if y'all remember her. We have
been teaching her for a while, but it has been hard to meet with her
and get her to church because she works all the time. Can I just tell
y'all that the scriptures are awesome! First with Rey and the 3 Nephi
scripture and then Hermana Barroso and I had an idea to make a little
card for Shay with some scriptures on it. We put James 1:5 and then
Alma 26:12. We left it on her car at work and then we went over
Saturday night to visit her and calm her nerves about coming to church
and she said she loved the scripture. She didn't get out of it what we
were intending for her to get out of it, but that is what is so great
about the scriptures, everyone is touched by the words of Christ in
different ways. And it helped her get to church. And she loved Church!
It's a little hard because she's black and everyone else is white. She
brought that up as a bit of a concern but we really do need to get
some diversity in our church! I guess that's where we come in with all
of the Latinos and black people we keep bringing :)

We are also teaching this cute little american chica named Denise.
She's the one we helped push her car. Her novio is from Mexico and she
has the cutest little balls of energy of boys I have ever met. I want
to take them home with me. Sister Barroso has to kindly remind me that
we can't :) We went over there this week and we hear from inside the
house, "Is that my friends!". It was the little 5 year old Cesar. He
came and sat by me while we were teaching the lesson and wrapped his
arm around mine and said, "You're my friend." Heart breaker! They were
supposed to come to church yesterday but they thought their car would
be out of the shop and it wasn't. Speaking of Children! We had our
primary program yesterday. I wish the little kids would just do
sacrament meeting every week. They bring such a strong spirit! Not to
mention, I don't have to translate when they do ;)

Can I just say how much I love this area. I love the little small town
feel, and while I miss being in a Spanish Branch, I love the people I
have met here. We have met so many amazing people and I have made some
great friends. I know that's not our main purpose out here, but you
can't help but love the people you serve and the people you serve
with. Love :) I just can't explain the love you feel as a missionary.
And it's not our own love, it's the love of Christ working through us.

Thanks yall for the love and support! I can feel your prayers and
love. Wish I could have been there with y'all for Grandma and
Grandpa's farewell. Sending my love your way!

Love, Hermana Decker.

P.S. Just read this in our letter from President Hanks this week. What
a powerful quote!
"This is hard work. It is the hardest work you will ever do. That's
why I say this is the most important work you will ever do..."Plan
right now! Plan right now for the stories you will tell your children
about your mission. Live right now in every way to look them in the
eye and put them on your knee and rock them on your lap and tell them
as I'm telling you, that you loved every day of your mission. That you
worked your head off! That you've never worked so hard in your life.
That you were tired and sweaty and dirty and hungry and you knew how
Paul felt and you knew how Peter felt and you knew how Mormon felt and
you knew how Moroni felt...Live now for those generations...You live
right now in a way that you can pierce their hearts and touch their
lives." (Elder Jeffrey R Holland

"I'd rather be an optimist and a fool, than a pessimist and right"

Hola Hola!!!

Como estan!!!!?? Well fall has officially hit Mississippi. It is
FREEZING! I know I know, I'm being a baby. It's not that cold and I
know I could be somewhere where it's snowing (like Russia ;) Sorry
Grandma and Grandpa) so I wont complain. Still, it has been pretty
cold. Dear Sister Wells has a hurt arm so she got the car all this
week and Hermana Barroso and I were on bikes. I LOVE my bike... and
that's no joke, I really do :) But I'd rather not ride it in a skirt
at night in 30 degree weather. But WO is me. I've done it before I can
do it again :p I do love this time of year :) I love fall clothes,
smells, changing leaves, pumpkins, etc. And Christmas is almost
here!!! Woot!

President told me in my interview about a week or so ago that he had a
lot of appreciation for the difficulty it takes to start a Spanish
branch. Well… me too. We really are searching for that one person who
can be the back bone and they really need to have a strong strong
conversion. Not just have a testimony of these things, but be truly
converted to all of it. I have met too many people out here on my
mission  that have a testimony of the things we are teaching them, but
they aren’t living it! It’s like what Elder Bednar said, “A testimony
is knowing what you live, and conversion is living what you know.” I
know that one is out there, it will just be the finding them that we
will have to rely on the Lord for. I have hope for the future of this
area! It’s like President Hanks said, “Someday, 10 years from now,
you’ll come back and there will be a whole Spanish ward here and you
will be able to say, ‘I started that’.”

Jesus came to church this week again! This will be his 5th time at
church :) I just love him! But I wish he would just get baptized
already. I honestly don't know what his worry or doubt is because he
won't open up with us as much as I'd like him to. He is so humble and
wise, but he won't commit! (which seems to be a problem with all
Latinos... marriage to one will probably never happen since they can’t
commit to anything;) ). So we are trying to figure it out. One of our
members has been super helpful in all of this and all of the members
are always very loving when he comes in even though he doesn't speak
much English.

His son Rey didn't come to church this week :( apparently his alarm
didn't go off. He and his dad basically are the same person. I think
they love having us come by and love the word, they just don't
understand that this is the REAL DEAL! I give props to them though for
coming to church all these times even with my horrible translation ;)

We have 3 baptismal dates! Woot! All are English. One is with an
investigator named Shay. She is just so adorable. She is a true seeker
of truth and loves the spirit that we bring into her house. She is
going through a lot right now and her home isn't really helping with
her progression. There are too many bad influences. She is a young
mother and she and her husband have a not very well paying job and
it's just all drama drama drama. We had a really good lesson with her
last night though and we told her we are going to help her get to
where she wants to be. We will do all we can and the rest is up to
her. Our other Baptismal dates are with an aunt of a less active named
Gladys, and the other is with Chrystal who is not happy with the new
pastor at her new church. Chrystal has the cutest family so I hope
they will feel the Gospel touch their hearts.

We went to transfers this week to pick up Sister Wells new companion.
ister Schendiman from Sandy Utah :) She's great. It was fun to see
everyone there. Hermana Hazelgren is still Sister Training Leader but
they moved her to Lorna in Birmingham (now she's been to all 3 spanish
branches that lucky duck) and get this, her companion is Hermana
Child! :D My two old companions. I just love them. They will be the
best Sister Training Leaders ever!

Other than that we raked some leaves for a blind less active, I went
on exchanges in Tupelo with the beloved Sister Murray from Pittsburgh.
She has been Sister Training Leader since I was called so we had fun.
She's great! We had a missionary just come home from New Zealand! He
has a funny accent now :) ... I hope I don't come home with a funny
accent.

Eli, I love you too and I will be expecting those hugs when I get
home! Kate, you are the cutest little pink lady ever! Serph, you look
like a stud! Grandma, I love your sense of humor! Thanks to everyone
else for all you do! MOM! I didn't forget your birthday! I have a card
that I had since last week I just sent it today though :( sorry! But I
love you and Happy Birthday! And my only request is possibly pumpkin
bread :)

Les Quiero muchisimo!

Love, Hermana Decker

I'm so proud (happy) to write y'all!

Buenas!

 

How is everything?? Can I just tell y'all how much I love the south? I love it with every fiber in my being. Even the many uneducated yet loving people ;) My heart is just full of so much love for all of them. I love that I get to learn 2 languages while I am down here: Spanish and Southern. "Let me AKS you a question", "Kill it" (basically means, "get out of here"), "Fixin' to/Fittin to/Finna", "He was in the pin (jail)", "buggey" (not shopping cart), "Let me carry you home" (take you home), "That tickles me", "make you so happy you want to jump up and slap your grandma", "more nervous than a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs", "___-er than the dickens!" Y'all didn't think you sent me out here to learn two languages did ya?

 

Well this week was crazy, just as always. OH! first off. We got transfer calls and guess who is not moving!? Me! I get another 6 weeks in beautiful Corinth which I feel eternally blessed for because there is so much work to do here, and so many amazing people! So, I am a happy missionary. So let's see, where to start. Well Rey and Jesus came to Church again! I just love them so much. I wish they would just get baptized already! But the Lord's time :) We taught Jesus this week about revelation and how he is going to get his answer through the holy ghost and how sometimes just the fact that the "seed" is growing, can be an answer. He may be from a little pueblito in Mexico, but he is a deep thinker. He pulled out some Bible on us and told us that he doesn't want to plant the seed in barren land because then it wont grow. He wants his "land" to be fruitful. Basically, he knows the seed is good, but he doesn't feel good enough. We taught him about the atonement and I just wish these investigators could see how much the Lord loves them, even though they aren't perfect! Nobody is! I have found though, the more we focus on Christ and his love, the more our investigators progress. Which makes sense. I have progressed most in my life when I felt his love most.We saw Jesus again on Saturday and we invited him to pick his own baptismal date but we want to shoot for next month. He said he would so *crossed fingers*! His favorite word is "a lo mejor" (maybe)... it's frustrating ;)

 

Rey is almost the exact same as Jesus. We saw him this week with an english member, which was awesome! at first... then he started going in to Cortez and Columbus and I could just see Hermana Barroso saying "please no" behind the pamphlet she was holding. I just kept looking at Rey and mouthing "sorry". The member just talked a bit too much and Rey doesn't speak very good English in the first place so it just started going crazy. You got to love it. I think the lesson was good none the less. We saw him again last night and we finally got him to pray with us! Granted, I did have to write it down for him, but PROGRESS! I feel like a proud mother :) Both him and Jesus are so close, I can just feel it! And I'm excited for them :D

 

Oh, by the way, we are in a trio now. Our dear love Sister Saville had to go home :( The mission just became to overwhelming for her and with her anxiety issues, she couldn't handle it. We are sad to see her go, but I know she will be happier at home. The Lord needs her at home anyways. Everything happens for a reason. So we have adopted Sister Wells! It's fun, but it takes some getting used to in lessons and all. She understands a lot of Spanish which is good because that means she is not totally lost.

 

Cool story! My dear beloved companion and I decided this week to be more exactly obedient. In Zone Training they talked about being so obedient that you even stop at stop signs on your bike... which sometimes we just blow through if there is nobody there. So we put it to the test! That same day we went to see one of our investigators and decided against it because they looked a little wasted in the house and went to our back up. On our way there we saw a car broken down and a young short girl with the hood up. We decided to go talk to her and see if we could help her. Turns out she is American but her ex and fiance are hispanic so she knows Spanish! She said someone was going to come help her, but we waited a bit just to make sure, and when they didn't show up we pushed the car off to the side (yeah, were buff ;) ). She said she was just going to walk home but it was dark and we were in a rougher part of town so we told her we would walk her home. We talked a bit and she was so impressed with us she said we could come back and teach her :D And it's perfect because she knows both Spanish and English AND her church just split up. Three lessons learned: exact obedience brings miracles, service softens peoples hearts, and the Lord will guide us. I love being a missionary!

 

The work is moving forward! We found a family this week! They seem prepared. I found out a family we had taught in Huntsville just got baptized! So many blessings and so many miracles. 

 

LOVE YOU ALL!!! Miss you!!!!

 

Love, Hermana Masey Decker

Olo!

Y'all know what one of my favorite scriptures is? 2 Nephi 2:25, "Adam fell that men might by, and men are that they might have joy!" Isn't that just great! Men are that they might have Joy. That's our purpose. I teach that everytime we teach the Plan of Salvation, but I think sometimes, I myself forget that. There are so many simple joys in this life. If I'm not smiling and laughing, something is wrong. I'm not living the way God would have me live. So many simple joys! For instance, have you seen the blue skies of the south :) There something to be seen. Or the fact that everyone waves to you down here. People, even when they have just told us they are not interested, always say, "Y'all come back, ya hear!" The opportunity to listen to the Prophets and apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ. Having the restored gospel on the earth today! Mexican Tiendas ;) Southern accents. Little Mexican men. Southern AND Mexican food! the best of both worlds :) We had to drop off a note at one of our investigators and their front porch was covered in cockroaches. Gross. But Hermana Barroso decided to take one for the team. Haha, she was dancing the whole way up there so one of them couldn't crawl on her. I had a good laugh about that. There are just to many things to be happy about, there is no need for sadness :)

 

Well, I had all that I wanted to tell y'all written out on a paper, and I forgot it at home, so we'll just go off of memory. Wasn't conference just wonderful! Seriously, those men and women are inspired. No doubt about it. LOVE THEM. I went over some of my notes this morning from Saturday morning session and I noticed a common thing, at least for me. Covenants and ordinances=blessings. Living the gospel just makes us happy! We have to go forward with faith! Like Elder Dube said as he quoted Elder Holland, "Faith is always pointing to the future."... (something like that.) And it's so simple! Just like Elder Bednar said when he talked about tithing. The gospel brings significant but subtle blessings! Bah! I just loved it all. Why wouldn't anyone want to be a part of something so great! And it was perfect because we have had a lot of our investigators, including Rey, talk about how they have received so many blessings from their faith in their church. That is wonderful! But there is so much more!!! Why wouldn't anyone want more blessings?! I just don't understand it I guess. Our covenants we make bring so many more blessings and make us so much more Christ like. That's what it's all about, isn't it? I guess I never really focused so much on the covenants as I should be. That's what I'm going to change because of conference :) Blessings! Don't you just love President Uchtdorf. Every time he talks I am just mesmorized. I loved his, "Doubt your Doubts, before you ever doubt your faith." He's a genius, that's all there is to it. And thanks grandma for all of the other quotes! 

 

Rey and Jesus came to church!!! Every time they come I just get so excited. I can't imagine being in their position. Having to come to church where hardly anyone speaks your language. But the members were great! We watched conference in another room so they could watch it in Spanish. (We had headphones, my spanish is improving, but there is no way I could understand conference language quite yet). They seemed to like it. We tried to really pound it in them to pray before they came so they could feel the spirit and know that Thomas S Monson is a prophet today. They are having struggles with the whole idea of prophets today. We had lunch in between and a lot of the ward members were so great with them. They speak a little bit of english, so they can understand a bit. One of our members is just so supportive of us. His daughter is serving a spanish speaking mission in Califronia and he promised her he would try to learn Spanish so he came in for a little part of conference while we watched it with Rey and Jesus and he bore his testimony after :') it was so simple but so powerful. He's wonderful. He invited them over for dinner after church, but they couldn't come. Still, A for effort! We need more members like him. Most of them just don't know what to do with us and our Spanish.

 

I let our Spanish less active cut my hair last Monday (the family I wrote about a while ago). It was our plan to try to get her to come back to church. She didn't come to church, but I got an interesting hair cut ;p the sacrifices we make for the work! She did it super fast, bless her heart ;) I'm going to get it fixed today by one of the english sisters investigators who works in a salon. Simple joys ;)

 

Did I already mention that I love President Uchtdorf :) Grandma sent me some of his quotes: "You are stronger than you realize. You are more capable than you can imagine." and "Your destiny is not determined by the number of times we stumble but by the number of times we stand up, dust ourselves off, and stride forward." I was talking with Hermana Barroso this morning in our companionship study about the atonement. I know I have felt the atonement greatly previously in my life, but it's amazing how much I have felt it just here on my mission. I'm not making any huge sins, but just the day to day ones and I know that I have many MANY weaknesses that I need the help of the Lord with. I have had to learn to be very humble. Especially since the people I am supposed to be training are better missionaries than I am, and they speak better Spanish than I did ;) But if I have learned anything out here, it's that, the gospel is for imperfect people. I am full of imperfections, and thats why I need this gospel. That's why everyone needs this gospel! What the atonement means to me is that sometimes, at the end of a day, I'm going to come home and say, "I didn't do so hot today... but that's okay, I'll just try harder tomorrow." Progression, it's all about eternal progression :) I may not be the smartest missionary, or the most prepared, or the most spiritual, or the most energetic, or the most fluent, but I have started to see those things as a blessing, because I have had to learn to turn to the Lord and let him make up for all that I lack.

 

Sorry, this letter is a bit long today! The other sisters write forever, so I've had a bit more time now days than I usually do :) The work is great. It is going by way to fast! I can look back and see all that has been done, but like Elder Dube's mother said, "Don't look back. Lood forward and see all that we have left to do." :) and there is a lot! Love you all!!!!!!!! Miss you!!!!!!! God bless!!!

 

Love, Hermana Masey Decker

Peace is not the absence of war, but the presence of God.

Hola hola! :)

 

This week has been fantastic! (I think I start all of my emails like this)... But it doesn't make it any less true! Really, you can't have a bad week when you have the Gospel in your life. We should walk around with smiles on our faces everywhere we go :D Corinth is wonderful. I kind of like the little town feel. We are constantly seeing people that we know and know us. Everybody waves at everybody around here. It's great :)

 

We had a lot of success this week in finding a lot of people. I have found when you have a full day planned with appointments, the Lord blesses you even if those appointments fall through. We had two days this week where we had an appointment for every hour of the day. Not all of the people who said they would be there were there, but we ended up finding people anyways. Let's start out with the best news. We had 2 investigators at church yesterday. Jesus and Rey!!! Father and son :) It makes me happy to see them coming to church together. Rey was super nervous when he came in. I can't imagine being the only latino in a room full of hard core Americans, but he did a good job. They only stayed for sacrament meeting, but we are making progress! Rey said he would have stayed but he came with his dad, so Jesus wanted to leave. He said "This was the most important meeting right"... "Yes"... "So I've stayed for the most important meeting and I can leave now." He's a funny guy. He said he will eventually stay for more meetings but he is taking it slowly. They both are. It's a bit frustrating, but I need to be more sympathetic and see it from their point of view. I translated again. We actually got some equipment now, so I don't have to sit next to them and whisper in their ear. I sit out in the foyer and translate from there. I'm not going to say I did the best of job, but the spirit speaks all languages so I hope they at least felt that. The ward members think it's awesome that we have Spanish people coming to church :)

 

We saw Rey after Church and he said he liked it he was a lot of new things to take in all at once. Understandable. He is really great though. He told us that he wants to take things slow because he doesn't want to run before he can walk. He wants to make sure he can do the little things, like daily scripture study and prayere, before he commits to the big things, like baptism. What he says makes sense. We talk about baptism almost every time we are over there so he knows that's our goal right now, he is just going to take a bit more time and that's fine. Some people need that. I know if he continues doing these things he will recieve his answer and it will probably be, "line upon line, precept upon precept," but it will come.

 

Other investigators. We have had a couple people commit to baptism. Which is fantastic! None of them will set a date though... We are teaching a Lesbian couple, Law of Chastity should be fun when we get to that. They're sweet and they love what we are teaching, but it's kind of hard to tell them that they need to split up their family in order to be baptized. They have kids and all. Oh the world. Our other investigator Luis we see EVERYWHERE, I mean everywhere. We taught him in a laundry mat the other day because we saw him waiting for his laundry. He is always in our path and he knows and we know it is not by coincidence. He is super Baptist, but I think slowly he is starting to see the blessings he can recieve from the gospel. Sister Barroso and I were talking and we can just see his little Guatemalan self in a 12 year old size baptismal suit ;) 

 

Other than that, I LOVED the Relief Society General Broadcast. I feel like their focus on Covenants was exactly what I needed to hear and exactly what my investigators needed. They need to see the importance not only of baptism, but the covenants that go along with it. Gospel truths will always trump any other manner of trying to convince someone of something. Our ward mission leader is awesome, so I think that our missionary work in the ward will start to take off. Maybe not when I'm here, but soon. 

 

I'm tired, I'm happy, I'm in love with this Gospel, I'm excited for things to come, I'm grateful, I'm healthy, and I love all of you!!!

 

Love, Hermana Masey Decker

I'm running out of cool subjects...

Aloha!!! :)

Hey y'all! I hope everything is going well at home. I read Brayden's email from last week a couple of minutes ago and by the end I just kept thinking... I will never complain about my mission again! It is a blessing to be state side. Sure we got cockroaches crawling out of who knows where, but I can handle all that stuff. Blessings. I am on the best mission in the world! :) ... no offense Bray, but it's the truth. Gotta love the southerners. I've learned two new languages here, Spanish and southern. Well, kind of three because the black folk down here have a language all of their own too. Too much fun :) We really do sometimes have too much fun I think. Sometimes our apartment gets kind of crazy with 4 sisters ;)

Anywho, this week was AMAZING. First to answer some technical questions of mom. Sister Barroso and I try to speak spanish all the time together, but it's hard when you're not immersed in the language and you live with English sisters. Our apartment is a bit small but we make it work. We live with the other Corinth sisters (english ones). One of which was one of my sisters in Huntsville, so that's fun. We all share one bathroom, which gets interesting, but we make it work :) The ward is fantastic! We just wish there was more spanish speakers, but what can ya do. And we have 6 missionaries in our ward. The Elders live in the Tennessee area of our ward and they're english as well. Our area is one of the biggest on the mission! Wooo... hope that answers all your questions mom.

Well, let's start with the best news. Jesus came to church!!!! (haha, gotta love it.) Alright, you have to say it the spanish way or it just sounds a bit blasphemous. But he did! We found him a couple weeks ago outside and started talking to him and we've been teaching him, trying to get him to understand that yes, all churches are good, but why settle for just good? Anyways, I drew him a beautiful map to get to the church (it was quite beautiful, he said so himself) and he came!! I was so happy :') A little back story (sorry this is going to be all over the place). We are teaching this other Mexican, Rey (we'll get to him in a minute), but we were teaching him the other day with the one spanish speaker in our ward who doesn't want to deport our investigators, and we told him we were having some other people come to church for the first time and so he didn't have to worry. Then I said, "Do you know Jesus?" and he says, "yea, that's my dad"... CRAZY! It's not by chance that we happen to be teaching both of them and they are our most progressing investigators. Anyways, they got daddy-issues, so Rey didn't think he would come, but Jesus came and Rey didn't. So we had our only little Mexican guy in our very English ward, so guess who had to translate, this girl! I have taken pride in the fact I've been out over a year and haven't had to translate yet, but it wasn't as bad as I thought. The spirit is a life saver, that's for sure. I just hope he was feeling the spirit more than trying to understand what the heck I was saying. The ward was super friendly and I think a little surprised we already got a Spanish speaker to come to church. One of the members came up and said, "Congratulations, y'all are doing work!"... I think it's funny that some members really don't know how hard we work. But anywho, happy day for us.

Now to his son Rey. He was out with his friends Saturday night, so one thing led to another and he didn't get back home until 10 in the morning. We told him he needs to get new friends. He's a great guy and he wants to be baptized, he just wants that feeling that this is what he is supposed to do and he is taking it very seriously, which is great, but he has got to get his priorities straight. He's still young so we can't just expect him to change over night, but he has a sincere desire to and he is coming to church next week. He promised. He shared his experience of getting over the border... I am literally at aw at what some of these people do to have a better life. I straight up told him, he came here for a better life and the better life is the gospel. I wish y'all could just meet some of these people here, their stories and personalities are so much better than what I can write. I just love them all so so much!

In other news. We got to go down to New Albany to a senior couples english class to have a dinner with them. That was fun. They have no spanish missionaries in that are but they are dying to get some. I went on my first exchange this week not as a sister training leader :D That was fun. It was with Sister Murray, who has been a Sister training leader from the beginning just like me, so it was fun to be with her. She's the sweetest. We got dropped by some investigators which is always sad, but what can you do. We are just working our butts off to start our little spanish group here and hopefully with Rey and Jesus that can be the start. I would love to see one of them baptized, just so they can turn around and baptize the other. Maybe fix there relationship problems ;) I love it here though. Trying to get used to actually being in a ward and not a branch. It's difficult sometimes, but I know I'll look back and be grateful for those times.

I love you all mucho and I hope all is well!!!

Mucho Amor!

Hermana Masey Decker