Hi guys! Thank you all for the birthday wishes

They just moved me out of Tennessee & into Hot Springs, Arkansas!

I loved Collierville Tennesse! It was so hard to leave, I became so close with so many people there who have forever changed me. 

When I first arrived in Tennessee I was SO excited to share my testimony, but quickly discovered that being a missionary in the south is hard. Pastors & ministers preach against us in their congregations and we were bashed everyday. We were teaching zero people and I immediately was so discouraged. I felt like it was pointless to be out here & that I was wasting my time. 

I kept trusting that the Lord would guide me to those who were ready to hear the gospel and He did. The week I left we had three people on date for baptism! We were able to put my sweet friend Beverly & her grandson on date. Everytime we stepped into her house she told us that we were the angles she had been praying for & that she could see the light of Christ inside of us. I love her more than anything! 

Brandon was definitely the person I was meant to find and teach though. He went from being completely agnostic, to having the strongest testimony of Jesus Christ in just a couple of weeks! He is going to be baptized June 8 & I am so excited. He has been sharing the gospel with everyone he knows, we were able to teach his family too! The night before I left Collierville he cooked us a huge fancy dinner it was so good. I said goodbye to him and he just started to sob, he told me that I have no idea how much I've changed his life and that he is so grateful that I had the courage to talk to him at the gas station all those weeks ago. I am so humbled to of had that experience with him & am so excited to see how much he grows.

I'm still not fully adjusted to the Southern culture yet haha! Everyone lovess Jesus. This week a lady asked if she could pray with us, she laid her hands on my head and started speaking in tounges. I've never heard anything like it haha. My companion and I were trying so hard not to laugh I had to hold my breath

Right now I am in a trio! I was hesitant at first but it has been so fun. One of my companions is a full blown cow girl and my other companion is from Haiti! I have loved each of my companions so much.

My first Sunday here in Hot Springs some of the older couples in the ward came up to us and said that they had heard that the great grand daughter of Lynn Mellor was serving in the ward. They had served along side him while he was the first stake president in Little Rock, Arkansas. It was a testimony to me that I am exactly where I am meant to be, loving and serving the same people that my great grandpa loved so dearly. 

Love you guys !

Thank you all for the birthday wishes! My trio has been alot of fun! Lots of laughter all the time which has been so good for me. There was this sweet new convert who was baptized a couple months ago named Angela, she bought me a cake it was so thoughtful. She doesn't have much money but she was so excited to throw me a little party. 

On my birthday my grandma's brother drove down from Little Rock & took us out to lunch! It was so good to see them. They aren't members of the church so I was pretty nervous because my whole purpose as a missionary right now is to help people come unto Christ, so it felt weird not sharing a message with them. While we were eating a lady randomly came up to us and bore the sweetest testimony. She told us that missionarys had changed her life 5 years ago and that we need to find those people who are seeking for truth. My aunt and uncle looked pretty nervous but the spirit was so strong as she bore her testimony I know we all felt it. My companions and I were talking about it after & that sweet lady definitely felt prompted to come talk to us because it was a perfect testimony for my aunt and uncle. 

For dinner that night this older couple in the ward texted us last minute & asked if we would join them for Hibachi. It was seriously the best food I've ever had we ate SO much haha. Best birthday

I got the best birthday present ever the other day! My companion in Collierville called me and said BRANDON IS GETTING BAPTIZED!! June 8!! I just started to cry because I am SO excited for him. I can't believe he was a random guy at the gas station and now his entire life is about to change. 

On Wednesday this week we decided to knock some doors. Seriously door after door people yelled at us. Everyone was so rude! We all got soo down. We were walking back to our apartment and there was a lady on a walk listening to Jesus music. We asked her if we could share a message with her & she said "Only if I can share one with you!" After that she didn't let us speak at all, just bashed us the whole time saying that Satan was not Jesus's brother. She asked if she could pray for us and during her prayer she put her hands on my head and starting speaking in tounges. It was the weirdest thing I've ever experienced haha. I opened my eyes and looked at my companion and started to laugh I tried so hard to play it off. I never knew what speaking in tounges was until I got to the South... it's the most interesting belief

This week we also went and knocked at some trailer homes! It is so sad seeing how some people live here. This little 8 year old girl was playing in the street, she came up to be and told me that I was really pretty. I started talking to her and I noticed that her face was all scarred up and her hands had cuts all over them. I asked her what happened and she immediately tried to hide it and got so nervous. She told me that she fell. I asked her what really happened then her mom came out and grabbed her and gave me a nasty look. It made me SO sad. Her parents were definitely abusive and my heart just sunk 

This man named AJ put in a request to meet with us. We called him and he seemed like a waste of time and that he wouldn't progress. We decided to stop by his house later that day and we got to meet him! He was shot in the head 4 times and he told us he saw a pillar of light. In that moment he decided he needed to change his life around and he said he saw our church's ad. We had a good lesson with him and he came to church! He was taking notes during sacrament meeting and loved church! He called us after and told us he wants to become a member. He's super cool but very scary looking haha! Gold teeth and covered in tatoos. I have to keep reminding myself that the Atonement is for everyone & that everyone can change...

The morning of my birthday we went on a walk! There was a man fishing & he had a fish on the hook so he asked me if I wanted to reel it in! I reeled it in and lost the fish. I asked him if he wanted me to cast it back out. I casted it out and I tossed the line over the power limes hahaha. He told me that my dad would be disappointed in me haha.

I spoke on Sunday! I think this is the 100th time I've spoken. Usually I need to write out everything but I didn't prepare anything this time. I just stood up there and talked I never thought I would ever be able to do that haha. A bunch of members came up to me and told me my talk really touched them ayy

Love u all!  See ya in a year 

Hi guys! I love you all! 

We have one more week until transfers. My companion thinks this is my last week in Collierville, it's rare for me to stay any longer than I have already. Part of me wants to leave and see another state but also I LOVE the members in the ward and each person we are teaching. The wards feel so familiar & feel like home so it'll be hard to re adjust all over again. I want to stay here so that I can see Brandon be baptized but maybe my work with him was just to find him and teach him. It's hard as a missionary because sometimes you don't get to see the fruits of your labors until you are in another area. I also don't want to pack up everything!! That'll be a pain because I've scattered my stuff all over this apartment. 

SO much happened this week so I'll just give y'all the highlights. We were out tracting one evening in Oakland in this pretty poor neighborhood. I swear everyone in the south has dogs and they always sit on the front porch without leashes. I've been bitten by 2 dogs in my life so I always get kind of timid around dogs until I see that they are nice. We hop out of the car and start walking up the driveway to this home and the dog on the front porch sprints at us full speed. I didn't want to run because I knew I couldn't out run the dog. I screamed "STOP IN THE NAME OF JESUS" and grabbed my comp and put her in front of me. I thought it was for sure going to bite us but right as it got to us it jumped on us and licked us. I looked around and noticed that the neighbors were sitting on their porch smoking a cigarette watching us. I was so embarrassed that they heard me yell that haha. Also my comp told me she thinks I have PTSD from dogs maybe I do..

I have come to love our friend Beverly. She is the sweetest older lady in the whole world. We felt prompted to offer her a priesthood blessing so we asked Brother Tolbert in the ward if he would do it. He invited Brother Curtis and they gave her a blessing of healing. It was so powerful and Beverly felt the spirit so strongly. Beverly loves the fact that there is a prophet on the Earth today and watches conference videos multiple times a week. She told Brother Tolbert that she loves "Russell" haha. Beverly also never calls me Sister Reeves, only Caroline and I kind of love it. She always tells my companion and I that she sees the light of Christ in us and that she knows we are His messangers sent to her. Beverly said the second we walk into her home we bring the Spirit with us & that it stays in her home the rest of the day. Makes me so teary every time. Normally she is too sick to come to church but she came this Sunday!! I was so excited to see her. She takes care of her grandson, Landon. Her daughter got into alot of drugs and had a child who was a drug baby. He can't hear very well and is autistic. Landon ran up to me at church and just threw his arms around me it was so sweet. We aren't supposed to hug or hold little kids but it's so hard not to I definitely keep breaking that rule.

We didn't get to have a lesson with Brandon this week which was a bummer. He opened a food truck & was super busy preparing for the event. We ended up going and it was so much fun! There was a million food trucks and all of Collierville was there. It's a huge deal here, they have it once a year and it's called "Fair on the Square." We weren't going to buy anything because we are broke but we decided to get something small from one of the food trucks. Turns out the owner of that truck was a member in Nashville! He gave us like $50 worth of food and drinks. It was so sweet. We've actually gotten alot of free stuff this week. It's going to be very weird to come back from my mission and have to pay for my own meals and going out to eat. The members in Collierville take such good care of us

There is this couple in the ward who has 5 kids. All their kids are older and this couple thought they were done having kids but the dad kept receiving promptings that there was a little girl who needed them. He told his wife and so she started to pray about it. That night she had a dream and saw the face of this little African America girl with a really round face. She later saw a picture of a little girl who looked exactly like the girl she had seen in her dream. She told her husband and he said "Wait I didn't think it was supposed to be a down syndrome girl" but they prayed about it and adopted her, and named her Alexis. Alexis's birth mom did alot of drugs & completely neglected her little girl. No one wanted to adopt her because she is not high functioning what so ever and is very out of control. She throws anything she gets into her hands, including knifes. I was always so scared of her when we would go over. Sunday night I was sitting on the couch with my legs crossed, and Alexis came up to me, uncrossed my legs and wanted me to hold her. I did it and she just laid on top of me. She grabbed my hands and wanted me to play with her lips, that is her love language. I just sat there and held her for half an hour and I was just trying so hard not to cry. I felt the Spirit really really strongly while I was holding her. I just kept thinking about how unfair it was that she has to have this body but I also gained a testimony that night that she would some day have a resurrected, perfect body. I told her mom that and she just started to cry it was such a sweet moment for me. They are also trying to adopt Alexis's older sister Mariah. She's been living with them ever since I got to Collierville. Mariah has been coming to church and seminary every week! We even taught her a lesson, but this couple didn't want to push it because she is having a hard time adjusting to living with this new family. Mariah is 15 and her birth mom was trying to get her into prostitution to make money. So Mariah coming from that awful situation to living with these members has been such a huge adjustment so we are just trying to love her. I bet Mariah will see the difference the gospel makes in people's lives and eventually want to be baptized

Early one morning this week we played pickleball! The APs came and we had 10 missionarys there. It's getting warmer outside so there was more people playing at the courts. These older ladies were blasting their music and one of the songs said the F word. Normally I don't care at all and it doesn't bug me but it was my first time hearing that word on my mission. I heard it and my whole body froze it was SO weird. I looked at the other missionarys and the same thing happened to all 10 of them. We all felt the exact same thing. We all talked about it and everyone said that before their missions everyone cussed and listened to music like that but being on a mission it feels so different. I keep thinking it won't be hard to adjust to real life when I come home but maybe it will a little bit

Thursday we had Zone Conference! If it's a missionarys last zone conference they will give their "departing testimony." This sweet sister stood up and bore her testimony about the Holy Ghost. She said she got up one morning and started to plan their lessons for the day. She felt the strongest impression ever to cancel the first lesson they had for the day. She told her companion and her companion told her that they had planned this lesson for a while and that they needed to go. She got an even stronger prompting to not go to that lesson. She canceled the lesson and later that night found out that there was an open fire shooting on the street where the lesson was going to be and the exact time the lesson was planned. So crazy! I feel like I have a hard time acting on my first promptings but I really need to start

We were knocking doors and this lady named LeeAnne invited us inside. Her home was disgusting, it smelled awful and there was junk everywhere. I was scared to even sit down. We ended up teaching her the Plan of Salvation and she just started to cry. It was so sweet. I'd love to see what it feels like to hear the Plan of Salvation for the first time. But anyways I asked her to read a scripture for us but she told me she is blind. I felt sooo bad for some reason I didn't even notice that she was blind I thought her eyes were just white haha I didn't put two and two together. Anyways she was a super sweet old lady but I just felt so bad for her, her living conditions were just awful

So much more happened this week but those things are what really stood out to me! By the way I feel my southern accent really coming back. I say y'all every sentence as well as yes ma'am & sir. I also have started ended my prayers by saying "In Jesus name we pray, Amen". I really did not want it to come back but I guess it's inevitable. Also something I love about the South is that everyone wants to hold hands when we pray. I thinks it's so cute and makes the prayers so much better 

Love & miss you all! If you guys could keep Brandon, Beverly, and Susan in your prayers at night it would mean so much to me