Letter #7

Hey FAMiLy!! Another great week in Elizabethton. I have been DYING to email you guys and tell you the good news. WE GOT ANOTHER BAPTISM COMIN UP!! His name is David Craig and me and Sister Allen Found him on July 3rd. He has commited to be baptized on August 1st. He is 45 years old and single and has spent many years in the slammer. He just wants to get to heaven! haha. He loves the b of M and he has a very strong testimony. I told him that he has to meet my family when ya'll come to TN and he was so excited. I was like you would really like my dad. David really needs a friend and he was so grateful when us the sisters knocked on his door. SO that means we have 2 baptisms this month! I got to call the assistants and tell them the good news and they wree like "goodness Sister furniss, 2 baptisms and it's only your 1st transfer!!" haha. I was like well "I have been a very blessed little missionary". Rick is the other guy who has commited to be baptized august 1st as well. He is still tryin to quit the smokes. He has some issues w the Law of Chastity. It was kinda awkward cuz he was tellin us some pretty weird things about his sexuality. AH!! We were like okay Rick that's enough. haha
Sounds like everyone is keepin busy! Thats good to hear. I got Tate, alvins and Easty's letter in the mail! THANK YOU SO MUCHo!! I luved the letters and I hung
the pics of Easty and Livvie right above my bed. haha. Livvie looks SO much like
JILLER! and whoa easty is getting big and he is so so so dark. he must be out
suntannin a lot.
So funny story we eat out at members like I wiould say once a week or somethin and last week we ate at this members home and it was real nice, but weird. This family is the biggest red-neck hill billy fam I've ever seen! They were like burpin at the table and eatin off the table w/ no plate and yellin and screamin at eachother. I was like WHOA! haha.. Don't get me wrong they are the nicest people ever and very strong in the church, but MAN! I am sure glad my parents taught me which way to pass the food and how to act when missionaries/company is over. I was just very weirded out by it. They didn't have a lot of manners. haha.. They are a funny family though. I think the south just has different ways of doin things.
Thats crazy that all the boatin crew has a missionary out!
So a family in my ward is on their way to rexburg RIGHT NOW! They are an older couple and their names are the Hoods. They have a son who lives right by the Rexburg temple. I was gonna tell them to stop by our house, but i forgot. haha.There is also a girl in our ward named Keristen Jones and she is the cutest girl ever and she's goin to BYUI in august. I am gonna tell her to go to our house so she can meet ya'll. Her and her sisters remind me of MY sissys. They all share clothes and stuff and she is such a cutie. She goes on splits w/ us all the time.
My comp is doin well. I'll be honest wit ya, we aren't BFF's and we don't really
socialize (cuz we're so different, she is a genious at playing chess)... but goodness we sure do teach well together and as missionaries we can work wonders. I know thats why we're together! We got 2 baptisms! woot woot... The end of the transfer is this WED and so we'l definately be together another 6 weeks. I have a feeling I'll be in Elizabethton for awhile. : )... The days go by so slow, but the weeks are FLYIN BY. I can't believe i've already been out 2 months. Thas CrAZy! I'm learnin SOooooo much. It's glorious. It's way humid here like my hair goes into lil curlies all the time. haha..
Thanks for callin DR. BAker. Thas good to know. I've felt greAT! What did President say in his letter to ya? I think send packages still to the mission home in knoxville then they forward it to me in elizabethton (which is 2 1/2 hours away).. If you find any brown flats to wear to church you can send them. : )..
Tell everyone hi for Me and keep me updated on everyones life. I love readying about your weeks and stuff. This week will be a great week full of knockin doors and teachin the restoration. haha.. GoD BLESS!
Luv,

Sister Furniss

Letter #6

Hi Family. How was the 4th of JULLY?? Sounds like you all had fun at the cabin and riding the weener. How is mitz and jodi and their families doin?? Elizabethton TN is doin great. We tracted for 5 hours on the 4th of July and no one was home! haha. We taught some weird lessons. Like we knocked on one lady's door and she was like "oh ya come on in".. and we walked in and she was in her UNDIES! HAHA... she was like oh hold on I just got outa the tub. Sister and ALlen were like ummm.. I started laughin and Sister allen was just kinda confused. It was pretty funny. The biggest issue with the people we teach is the W OF WISDOM.. Man everyone smokes. I need to pull out my health teaching skills and keep people of drug eh? he he..
We commited our friend RICK to be BAPTIZED!! He is gonna be baptized on July 25th if he can continue to lay of the smokes. He needs to stop lightin his Loli POP.. HE is the coolest guy ever.. We are teaching his girls too.. THIS is so the bible belt. OH My goodness. Everyone is either Free-will baptist, southern baptist.. or just baptist or they can't remember what they are but they read the bible. Sometimes Sister ALlen gets into these deep bible discussions and I'm just kinda like ummmm.. It's kinda overwhelming, but I am starting to read the bible. cuz honestly I never have before. So that is a bit of a struggle for me.
We are also teaching the Burn's family and we keep inviting them to church like every single day and they won't ever come but for some reason they really like us. So I bought these "walmart special" shoes like a month ago and they are sure weird lookin but I wear them anways... but I gave them to our friend LISA! She said she wouldn't go to church unless she had some shoes to go wit her skirt. So I gave her my ones I got at wally world. and she was so gosh darn happy. I'll have to send you pics of her and me. She is 16 years old. She hasn't been to church yet.. but hopefully now she has some
shoes she'll wear them. She comes from a really hard life. She lived in a group home for like 3 years cuz her dad sexually abused her and her mom couldn't take care of her.. but now her mom got her back and she lives wit her mom and sister. It was really cool to see her face light up.. SO I live in a apt in Elizabethton and it's just like a little town house. It's pretty old, but I have my own bed and we have AC and the laundry room smells like poop. haha. But hey it works so its all good. My bed is kinda
lumpy and it sinks in the middle. haha. But I sleep so good on it for some reason cuz I think i'm just so gosh dead tired at nights I just crash. haha...
I am ready to not be a trainee and be a regular missionary. haha. I'm tired of having a mom (sister allen) tell me wut to do. I"m learning a lot from her though, but oh boy i'm ready to not be a trainee..I would lOVE to be able to be a trainer later in my mission. I think I would do it a lot different than my trainer did, but just cuz thats me. So GUESS WHA!! I made Sister Allen take me to a baptist church and we went last night. I figured I need to go to one cuz I've never been.. and everyone we meet are BAPTIST.. so I needed to see it for myself. It was so weird! It was real nice chappel and everyone was so friendly and nice people, but the spirit was NOT there. We went to the Valley Forge Free-Will Baptist Church. The preacher was just a screamin and he kept talkin about the blood of christ and how he thinks we need to talk more about the blood and not shy away from it. It felt more like a production than church. He had a big southern accent too. Everyone here has some kinda southern accent and somtimes I can't understand them. lol.. I have to be like.. "Sister Allen what did they say"?? I'm go glad I belong to the church of latter day saints. It is the only true church on this earth.
The roads here are so windy and we tract out in the boonies. I get so car sick. haha. Weird I know. We have tracted into some crazy southerners. They seriously make me laugh so much. I am takin pics left and right. SO I'll send some. I am making so many friends in Elizabethton. THAT is what keeps
me going and being a missinoary of course. My testimony is just growing rapidly and I have wrote in my journal every single day of the experiences I have. Cuz EVERY single day I have some kinda super special experience.
We have a car, but we walk so much and just park our car. The other day we almost got attacked by a dog. I was swingin my bag around like a maniac. HAHA. I am so weird. Somethin must be wrong wit me, cuz we were talking to some less actives and I let this little ugly dog crawl all over me.. AH! I dunno why either. It was kinda fun. haha. We are teaching this lady named Ana May and she has like 5 big fat CATS!! We teach her outside, but if she EVer asks us to go in, i'll be like umm no thank you. hehe. She is such a sweet lady.
Yesterday we went and had lunch with President Porter and his wife and 2 other Elders in our ward. Pres Porter is Pres Griffin's councelor. and he does exactly what YOU DO dad. He is a retired insurance salesman and he lives on a golf course in this mansion old country house. It was fun.
Well sorry this letter is so like random, but I think i'm getting to be a random person. haha. I LOVE being a missionary and this has been the experience of a lifetime. I have grown closer to my savior in so many ways, it has changed my perspective on life and increased my purpose. I decided that after the mish I want to hurry and have them babies and get married so I can go on a mission wit my hubby as soon as the kids are gone. Hhaa! I love you all so much! and I'm working my lil behind off and lovnig every single minute. Even though every single day is so very HARd and satan works hard to discourge me, I come home kneeling in prayer thanking heavenly
father for those hard hours I had.
LUV YOU ALL! MWAH!!

PS - write me a letter or somethin. ; P
Thanks for all the emails and letters, it serouisly makes me so happy and
brightens up my dad to hear from everyone! Livvie is so cute!!!

TATE are you still alive????? JILL? KASS? ALVIN? YO
Luv,

Sister Furniss