Transfer Calls!

Hi, Everyone! 

So I got a transfer call on Saturday and my new area is going to be Goldsboro, North Carolina. Transfers are on Thursday this time because there is a large group of missionaries coming in. The whole mission is going to meet up and have a wonderful training. My new companion will be Sister Breaker. I haven't met her yet, but I heard she is a wonderful and diligent missionary. 

Last week I got blonde highlights. A member was willing to do that for me; I feel better with my hair being a little lighter, especially for the summer. 

We had two investigators show up to Sacrament Meeting - Ali and Timberly. 

Since it was the first Sunday of the month, it was Fast and Testimony Meeting. This is where we fast with a purpose (for somebody, spiritual strength, for investigators to receive answers to their prayers, etc) and where we go up to the microphone and share our testimonies of the restored church. One of the greatest things that happened was when our investigator, Timberly, went up and told the whole congregation that she had been church searching and she feels like this is the true church. She declared that she wanted to be baptized on August 22nd, and how excited she is for that day. When Timberly went up, though, one of the Elder Missionaries who sat near the front row looked back at us, with his mouth dropped. My mouth was dropped, and my companion's mouth was dropped. That was OUR investigator! WE are so proud of Timberly for her decision to make a sacred covenant with our Heavenly Father (God). 

I also bore my Testimony; As missionaries, at least, in my mission, it is not a common tradition that Missionaries go up and bear their testimony. But, in this ward, I guess it is. I bore witness that Jesus is the living Christ, that he lives, and that with Him, anything is possible. 

A lot of people, when they go up to bare their testimony, feel it's a time to preach to the people or to share a personal experience only, instead. But - that is not the point of Fast and Testimony Meeting. When the little children go up to share their Testimony, they are setting the example of how it should be - brief, simple, and to the point. When children give their testimonies of how they know this church is true, that Jesus is the Christ, and that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet - those things, regardless if they are very simple - or even just simple phrases of serving their siblings - bring a very powerful spirit into the room. That spirit comes because they mean what they say, and that what they said is a true principle. 

....

More great Miracles - this week I had been praying for service opportunities to help our neighbors out. I hear them through the walls a lot of the time and I just wanted to do something nice for them. A few days ago, though, the wife of the family had a lot of groceries and she was making several trips to her apartment. We asked her if we could help, and she let us take some things! She finished her grocery trip run with us helping her. When we dropped the items off, she told us that we had very bright countenances, and how she really enjoyed being in our presence. Her comment truly made my day. 

-- My companion and I didn't have enough MSF money to buy groceries last week. A family was so kind and bought us our groceries, and even things we didn't ask for! I was so trilled, and so grateful. 

-- My companion and I are now implementing something that we like to call 'Drive-thru Tracting' where we give out Mormon.org cards from our car windows. We stop by people who are talking to others out on the street (Did I ever write about the time where we did that, and someone's baby went from their carseat and went to the driver's seat, and put the car in Neutral? The car almost hit us but we backed up just in time. The mother and her friend were standing outside talking to us from our car. This all wasn't our fault though; my companion and I truly believe that it was God who saved us from a car wreck). 

Anyways! This is all I can say for now!

-Sister A. Marshall