'Dying' in Knightdale!

Transfer News! Sister Zoolakis is leaving me... :( We kind of figured it would happen because she has been here for 4 transfers now. But that doesn't mean we are happy about it! This also means I will be ending my mission, or "dying" in Knightdale.

Monday was a half preparation day. We did a lot of walking and talked to a lot of people! We even had people come up to us and ask us questions! That's the best!!! After supper we went to visit a couple who live up the street from us, the Parrish's. John and his wife first talked with missionaries 60 years ago and still have their Book of Mormon's! They have never joined the church, but the only thing stopping them is that they are in their 90's and pretty set in their ways. 

Tuesday was Deep Clean Day! We had a couple of lessons in the morning with Allean and with Sister Prevatte. Then Sister Coombs took us out to lunch. After that we spend a few hours cleaning everything! The grossest thing was the seal around the refrigerator.... lets just say it was supposed to be white/cream and it was more of a green/brown/black color. We got out some bleach to try to kill the mold and it looks a LOT better!

This is the mold on our refrigerator...Ewww!

Wednesday we had district meeting and then had to go to a doctor's appointment for Sister Zoolakis. After that we contacted a referral. Apparently, he has been taught by missionaries before! He spent about a half of an hour trying to tell us what we believed and that we are a cult. Always fun to try to avoid a "Bible Bash" when everything the other person says is in a argumentative tone and every other sentence starts with "The Bible says...." 

After a few more doors, with much nicer people behind them, we had supper with the Bartholomew family. Brother Bartholomew is cousins with my old companion Sister Bartholomew! It is fun to get to spend time with their fun family! 

After supper we went to Sister Rathavongsa's home to help her clean. She had family coming into town this weekend and no one has ever taught her how to clean, so she was at a loss of where to even start. We spent a couple of hours on the kitchen while Sister Robinson, her visiting teacher, helped to organize and clean another room. 

Thursday we had a plumber come to replace a toilet that had a crack in it. Our landlady came as well because she knew we couldn't be in our apartment alone with a man. We sat and talked for about an hour while he was working on the plumbing. Our plumber is amazing! He is a musician and his home is like a museum! It is full of old instruments and all these amazing things! He is also the happiest man I'm pretty sure I've ever met.

After they left, we had time for lunch and to make some phone calls. After that Sister Chard came with us to visit Sister Thompson and give her a tape player so she can listen to the Book of Mormon now! On the way home we stopped on the side of the road to save a Box Turtle! 

The rest of the day was weekly planning and people canceling appointments. Then we spent a little bit of time ironing our dresses to go to the temple the next day!

Me and Sister Z

Sister Walser with me and Sister Zoolakis 

Friday we had Sister Walser take us to the temple. It is always so amazing to be in the House of the Lord and the Raleigh Temple is beautiful... even if it is a "baby temple" compared to the Seattle or Provo temples. 

This is our zone at the temple

 

After the temple we had preparation day. We went shopping and visited Allean. Then we went back to Sister Rathavongsa's home to help clean for a couple of more hours. 

Saturday we had an amazing lesson with our Investigator Amanda. We had a church tour with Sister Foster and was able to commit her to baptism! We don't have a date set yet because she is still a little unsure, but she is willing and open to learning as much as she can. It is amazing the difference a member can make in a lesson. They always seem to say the exact things that the person needs to hear!

That night we talked to William on the phone and told him that Sister Zoolakis is leaving. He committed to come to church! We were so excited to have him coming, a less active member, and Allean! That night I started feeling a little sick with a sore throat. 

The next morning I woke up and my head hurt, my voice was pretty deep, and my nose was running! William sent us a text that morning saying that he "wasn't feeling it" and wouldn't be able to make it to church. The end of his text was "Y'all don't be mad at me!" We were a little upset but we still had Allean come and two less active members that we weren't even expecting to be there! The Elders in the ward also had an investigator come to Sacrament Meeting! It was a great day at church!

After church ended all the missionaries met with Bishop Marriott and talked about how we can help the ward in their missionary work. It was a good meeting with a lot of good ideas. 

Right after the meeting we met William outside the Library for a lesson. We talked about Genesis and lots of different topics. He told us that he wasn't able to make it to church because he woke up with a terrible migraine and he was afraid if he told us that we wouldn't believe him! As we kept talking my voice got worse and worse and at one point he asked if he should call me Elder Shurtz today instead of Sister. We all laughed pretty hard! William is one of my favorite people and we have another lesson with him on Wednesday!

 

Sister Zoolakis and me with our investigator, William

He's one of my favorite people!

Right after William's lesson we had supper with the Benner's and Morris's. They are sisters in the ward who live next door to each other. They are a great family! After supper we went home and Sister Zoolakis spent some time packing while we watched "The District" and ate the last of the ice cream we bought for Sister Zoolakis's birthday two weeks ago. 

Being a missionary is the best! The leaves are starting to change colors and it is getting a little cooler outside. It's the best! I love being a missionary and I love talking to people about the Savior. Lately everyone has been going on and on about how everything going on in the world and I love being able to always tie it back to relying on the Savior, Jesus Christ, and that if we have faith in Him we will trust in Him and have no reason to fear.

Happy fall y'all! 

Love,

Sister Shurtz

 

Sister Zoolakis and me at church

This is Brother Thornton. Picture taken by an 11 year old girl named Asia. We love his family! But they all left before we could take pictures with them so we only got one with him. He's from Seattle!