June 17

Hi Family!! I am still here in Brunswick, Georgia and am still in the Florida Jacksonville Mission. Transfer calls were crazy! President Barry does a conference call, so we put it on speaker and every missionary in the mission is on the same line as he reads off where everyone is being transferred to. Its a pretty cool thing to hear all the different changes being made. Anyone that got transferred to the Savannah Zone this transfer is now in the Georgia Macon Mission. South Carolina and Savannah aren't in my mission anymore :( Sister Divis and I crowded around our phone in anticipation on Monday night as transfers were going on. President Barry said, "In the Brunswick 1st ward, Sister Dodd will stay with Sister Johnson. Sister Dodd will be the senior companion." Sister Divis and I were freaking out. She got transferred to Waycross, which is still in my zone. As soon as we heard, my mind was going a million miles an hour and I had a hard time falling asleep that night, which never happens haha. On Tuesday, Sister Divis and I headed up to girls camp! It was SO fun to be at girls camp with these sweet girls in the Kingsland Georgia stake. We taught 6 classes that day to all the different age groups! We taught about why we serve missions and do missionary work, and about the missionary purpose. I loved doing that. I love connecting with young girls. There is something incredibly powerful about virtuous young women all gathered together. I felt so strongly that Heavenly Father loves His daughters. They are so precious to Him. In every class I kept saying that, over and over, because I felt it so strong. "You are a daughter of God. You are so precious, so valuable, so beautiful. Never forget that! Never let the world make you think that your virtue and purity is not of worth." I felt it burning inside me as I talked to them. I had the chance to sing the song "Send Me" from the EFY Album from 2003. It was awesome.. I felt so much conviction in singing that song to them, and I hope that they are thinking about missions. I think every girl should serve a mission, I really do. Why not? I know it is a sacrifice and some girls feel like they shouldn't go. But nothing but GOOD can come from serving. My understanding and love for the gospel has increased so much! Sister Johnson is my new companion. She is 23, from Salt Lake City, Utah. She is a graduate from the University of Utah in Mass Communications and Journalism. Basically the same major as me! But she is more into the journalism aspect of it. She is about 5'2 and I love her haha. She is so...witty! She loves Doctor Who, and comic books, and hates twilight hahaha She is so funny.I made a comment the other day about how I needed to try harder to never complain, because Nephi never complained in the scriptures. She was like, "Ya well, he wrote it." hahaha This girl. My favorite part about Sister Johnson is how obedient she is. I was asked by Heavenly Father to train myself, so I did the very best that I could to be obedient. But Sister Johnson was trained by an experienced missionary and there are all these rules and little mission quirks that I had no idea existed. She is SO obedient to, never wavering. For the first day, I was so preoccupied with my pride.. In my mind, I was trying to defend the way that I had done things if they were a little different. But I quickly realized that Sister Johnson was sent to me for a reason, and I have been trying so hard to humble myself. Its not about being right, or leading the way. Its about doing things the way that Heavenly Father wants them to be done. I feel like in a lot of ways I am starting all over.. But Heavenly Father needs me to be humble to learn, and so I am trying. Humility is not thinking less of yourself, just thinking about yourself less. I am trying to think of myself less and think about those around me more. Jeneane.. I love her. We came to her house on Thursday and she told us about her soap opera for 15 minutes. Stephy is her favorite, and got in a motorcycle accident, so she can't have children. Liam doesn't want to be with her anymore because she can't have children, and all he wants is the family he never had. She was hoping Liam would run after Stephy when she left on the plane, but he didn't. She was crying real tears of sadness when she told us this, by the way. I love her so much!! I LOVE the aspect of my mission that I get to meet the most random people and to be a part of their lives for a period of time, whether that is for the rest of my life or just for an afternoon. Jeneane has been struggling so much in trying to decide if she should be baptized. She is the one that had that amazing experience with the plan of salvation. She loves Christ and has come so far in her life from where she was. But she has already been baptized and doesn't understand why she needs to be baptized again! We have talked about the gift of the holy ghost, how her pastor had the authority to baptize her into his church but not the authority to baptize her into God's kingdom.. Its making sense in her head, but she hadn't felt it in her heart. We had a lesson this week, first day with Sister Johnson. I could tell how frustrated she was and how she was talking about the bible. I asked her if she'd been praying and reading the Book of Mormon. She said she had been and been praying and praying so hard, and she wasn't getting an answer. I said, "Jeneane, if God told you right now to get baptized, would you do it?" She said and thought for a second and then responded (with a little attitude because she is sassy ;)) "I would pick up a snake if He asked me to.. But only if He asked me to. Yes I would get baptized if God told me to." Then, without us even asking her to, she opened up her Book of Mormon to a random page and started reading the first verse she came to. It was 2 Nephi 31: 11-13. "And the Father said: Repent ye, repent ye, and be baptized in the name of my Beloved Son. And also, the voice of the Son came unto me, saying: He that is baptized in my name, to him will the father give the Holy Ghost, like unto me; wherefore, follow me, and do the things which ye have seen me do. 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; yea, then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holly Ghost; and then can ye speak with the tongue of angels, and shout praises unto the Holy One of Israel." She turned and looked at us with the biggest eyes and just sat in silence. I was just staring at her with the spirit burning in my chest, wanting to laugh :) Heavenly Father truly waits for us show him that we have real intent, that we are willing to do whatever he asks us to do. Once we display that real intent and have faith in seeking the answers, He will answer us. Jeneane committed to be baptized on June 23rd. Please pray for her this week. I will give you someone every week that you can pray for ok? This wee it is Jeneane. I know that this is a long one :) But I love you family. I am so excited to hear about Hailee's wedding and Austin's farewell and get pictures. I know you are busy :) But please don't forget about me!! Remember that obedience is the source of every blessing. Heavenly Father is just WAITING to give us certain blessings, but He is bound by the law of justice. He can't bless us and be close to us until we draw close to Him through obedience. We have that amazing gift of agency!! With it, we can choose: God or the world. As we strive to be more and more obedient each day, we open the doors of heaven and can really have PEACE. I love ya'll :) Sister Dodd

June 10

Hey ya'll!!! 

Wow, this has been another busy week for the Dodd family :) We've done it again! I love hearing about Austin going through the temple.. That's amazing. I wish I could've been there, but obviously would not wish to be anywhere but Brunswick Georgia for now. 

Please tell Grandma thank you for her package she sent me this week. It was SO cute, it had a bag of cookies with a note attached that said, "for your tummy" and then a little lotion that said, "to make you smell yummy" and then a little lds book that said, "to start your day off sunny". Oh I love her :) 

So this week, we dropped Tiger, Quay, and Tracey. They were supposed to get baptized yesterday but have kind of dropped off the face of the earth. They've been avoiding appointments and haven't been home or don't text back.. We finally stopped by and Quay answered the door. It broke my heart.. The light that we had always seen in his eyes was gone.. It was like he was afraid to talk to us. I don't know what happened.. Anti-mormon influence is really strong here in the south with so many denominations all over the place. Its hard because you fall in love with these families, you see the joy in their eyes and they acknowledge that they feel the spirit, but then don't follow it.. Hopefully they will find the church again someday.. I prayed about it a lot and I know that Heavenly Father is mindful of them.

We are still teaching Miss Jeneane. She is so SASSY and I love it :) We had a miracle happen this week. Jeneane has always been Pentacostal. The pentacostal church believes in speaking in tongues, that it is the language that only God can hear and its so scary. When they "feel the spirit" they do whatever the spirit "prompts" them to do, like run up and down the isles, scream out loud, speak in tongues, dance around.. And so Jeneane really struggles with the reverence found in our church, or that we take the sacrament individually and not all together. I bore testimony that we take the sacrament individually because Christ died for us and suffered for us individually. He died for every single person's sins, and it was very personal, so the sacrament should be too. As I teach sometimes, I am praying and praying and praying and saying Heavenly Father, I don't know what to say or how to express myself.. and I have felt several times the impression come in my mind, "Open your mouth" like from D&C 60:2. As I just open my mouth and testify of the Savior and of my testimony, the spirit can be felt, even though I sometimes don't even remember what I said after the lesson. And that's what it is.. The spirit is the true teacher. If I am prepared and living worthily, the light in my eyes speaks louder than my voice. 

We taught Jeneane the plan of Salvation this week. I used the little felt version that you sent me Mom! As we taught it, she started to gasp and say, "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!" She then told us about a dream that she had had the night before. In the dream there were three giant steps. She started at the bottom. She could see that there was a big white temple at the top step. She climbed up to the second step, and said there were good people there. She asked them to come with her to the temple and they didn't want to, they didn't know what she was talking about. She climbed to the top step and it was beautiful she said. The trees were so tall and the flowers were so bright. She saw the Savior, and the trees bowed down to him, she climbed to the temple but she couldn't get in and she was so frustrated. As we showed her the three degrees of glory and the picture of the temple that says COVENANTS, she knew it was truth. She kept touching it and saying, "this is truth.. this is truth.." The spirit is the TRUE teacher. God answers our prayers ALWAYS. 

We had dinner at the Greens last night and I love them. They are an old couple, They have such thick southern accents.. She told us a huge story about a baby squirrell that she raised and she had a big picture of it wearing a t-shirt in her house. She also had a christmas tree decorated for the 4th of July with red white and blue lights and big american flags sticking out. They have fiddler crabs in their yard and asked one of the elders from our ward that's getting transferred if he had gotten my home address. I high-tailed it out of there. hahaha ohhh the South, how I love it.

My scripture reading has consisted of Nephi this week. I love him.. He never complains. He just turns to the lord in trials and says, what can I do now? In 1 Nephi 19:1, he says "And it came to pass that the Lord commanded me, wherefore I did." I love this. It is so important for us to be obedient. The Lord commanded me, wherefore I did. He knows better than we do, always. As we strive to be obedient, He will lead us and shape us. I love this gospel. 

Tonight we get transfer calls!! I am anxious to see what will happen. We are also teaching at girl's camp tomorrow, and I am so excited to teach these girls and to sing for them. I'm singing a song called Send Me, from the 2003 EFY cd. 

I love you family. Thank you for your support. Stay strong! Be obedient!

Love, Sister Dodd

June 3

Familia and Amigos,

 

Thank you for all your love and support this week! I have received so many letters and emails and it lifts me up so much! Its awesome that we have these rules not to call and email and write all the time, because it keeps me SO focused. I don't even think about home or life at home much at all, because Heavenly Father is helping me to trust Him, to focus on His children that need to know about the restored gospel! I love you all so much.

 

That brings me to my week. WOW. I have never experienced highs and lows like a mission. If the work is going well, you are so stoked! If it is slow, it gets rough. In regular life you have your family, friends, work, school, church, etc.. to focus your attention on. If one area is struggling on, you have those other things to look forward to. Not out here! You have one purpose and one purpose only, to help others come to Christ. But I love it! I am praying to love it and praying to learn how to be patient and I know God is answering my prayers, I can feel it. I don't know what I would do without prayer. Prayer is the key to our relationship with God. Will all of you try as hard as you can to have more meaningful personal prayers this week? Develop that relationship with your Heavenly Father more fully, and He will help you to feel the spirit, and know how you can improve and grow. 

 

One inactive member we worked with this week has to be given some time here today.. Her name is Justine and she is 65. She gave me two long dresses because she said they are too skinny for her, they are lime green and BRIGHT yellow. Can't wait to wear them ;) She tells the wildest stories, she has had one crazy life. She is this really tall black lady and is so sweet. We had an awesome lesson with her this week and she said she would start coming back to church. And she came! She comes into the chapel right before the sacrament starts wearing blue scrubs and has a huge plastic mug full of diet coke in her hand. I was leading the music in our ward and sister divis was playing the piano and I had to hide behind the piano, I was laughing so hard. I was so happy she was there!! I love the gospel.

 

Jeraldine is the one I told you about, the recent convert. She has all sorts of health problems, but it so sweet. We went over and read the book of mormon with her this week, she was really not feeling good though. She used to be a baptist, so I asked her if it would make her feel better if I sang a song and then she sang one of her favorite songs from her old church about Christ. We were out on their apartment complex's porch with me, Jeraldine, Sister Divis, and Kembrough, her friend that is about her same age, like 60ish. I sang I know that my redeemer lives and I stand all amazed. It was wonderful. She lit up. I have been trying to use my singing more often, in lessons and such, and it has really brought the spirit and opened people up. I know that I will use it even more as my mission progresses, I have been given that gift for a reason. She then sang one of her baptist songs called "Jesus oh Jesus". She has an awesome voice! Kembrough was singing the choir's part in the background, so she would sing, "Jesuuuuus" and Kembrough would do the little "Jesuuuus." in the background. I don't know how to describe it, but I was singing with them on the porch and I was wishing someone would video tape this moment of me singing gospel music with Jeraldine and Kembrough from Georgia :) These are the days.

 

Last time we saw Tracey, Quay, and Tiger, they were SO excited about getting baptized, to come to church, that they had found the true church on the earth.. This week, they have not been home for any of our appointments, they only respond to our calls and texts sometimes, and they didn't come to church.. I don't know what's going to happen. I am praying my heart out and hoping we can keep teaching them and that they still have the desire to be baptized. I don't know what happened to change how they feel.. Keep praying for them please :) Satan is SO real. I feel like we are going out in the world literally FIGHTING Satan for souls sometimes. He doesn't want our work to progress. He wants to drag us down, all of us, to be as unhappy as he is. I am so determined to grow closer to Heavenly Father and to have the spirit with me to be able to help this work progress. We are in the last days! I am working hard to spread the light of the gospel everywhere I go, to help people to feel a piece of God's love for them through me. LOVE is our most powerful tool. I can't hide the light of Christ in my eyes, and I would never want to.

 

I definitely see some STRANGE stuff here in the south. There are some STRANGE religions... Jeneane, who has a baptismal date, is Pentacostal. So she has been telling us all about speaking in tongues, how when you feel the holy spirit you can't help what your body does, whether that be running around in the church or laughing hysterically or dancing or screaming.. So she thought our church was a little different.. I pray to know what to say to people a majority of the time, cuz I sure don't have any idea what the heck to say at times. I am young and am not by any means a perfect teacher. I know that through Him I can do ANYTHING, if I have faith and make sure I am worthy and willing.

 

1 Nephi 3:7

 

We were not sent to this earth to fail. We were sent here to become like God, to choose GOOD over EVIL. Choose GOOD! :) Be righteous! I love the prophet! Read his talk from conference about obedience, it changed my life ;)

 

Love you all. Sorry this is so long.. Austin's emails will be like 3 sentences ;)

 

Love, Sister Hillary Dodd