Love Mail Monday

Here is the letter we got from Sister Goodrich today. Her siblings all got an email too :). 

Her mailing address is at the bottom.  Keep up with her and other Missionaries on our blog thefathersstory.blogspot.com

Hello Everyone!

I finally got the bike from Sister Rackleff she is so sweet, and nice. I think I've told her a million times thank you now. o so my bike is purple, and it looks like a beach cruser but not so low.. It's so cute! I don't have a picture but I will take one soon. I get to ride it for the first time tomorrow. yay! we can't really ride it in most of our area because 3/4ths of your area is on the other side of 249 and the bishop forbade us from riding or walking on that road.. it's just not safe. at all and people here drive crazy!! so we can only ride to one little neighborhood that's not too far. but it's also the area where it's really run down, and old, and scary at night.. actually all of houston is scary at night.. we don't stay out most nights past 7:15 so that's good. This week was hard, and more difficult. but I hope my attitude will change. I've been stuck in a rut. and depressed, and sad.. but I'm trying to look for the positive things. I know that my companions must really love me to put up with me this week, I haven't been the most agreeable person.i'm tired and grumpy most of the time because i can't sleep at night.. but don't worry! I'm not given up. So last Monday we did a gift exchange, and pinata with the rest of our zone it was fun! I got a toy truck out of the gift exchange, but i donated it to the nursery. Tuesday we went and cleaned Ms. Smileys house for our weekly service project. Ms. Smiley is a grumpy old woman.., and has two broken feet ( which i accidently kicked twice) she is a non member but her son is a member his name is Brother Crummey it's kind of ironic that Ms. Smiley who has a crummey attitude all the time, has a son named Crummey, who always smiles he is the nicest person ever. But he is not doing well he is down at the hospital waiting for a heart transplant.. he is a recent convert. him and his wife joined about a year and a half ago, and they were getting ready to go to the temple when bro crummey got sick.. We met a new investigator on tuesday too, his name is William Compton I knocked on the door, and asked if he had heard of the church, and the book of mormon, and he said no, but that he wanted to learn more so we gave him a copy and he said we could come back so that's exciting! My first good door approach! yay! Wednesday we had exchanges with Sister Folsom who is the great granddaughter of President HInkley she doesn't like to talk about it though so yeah... but still pretty cool we walked a lot and we went and saw our 94 year old investigator who we commited again to pray to know if she should be baptized.  We also had zone conference on Thursday and it was really good! I learned a lot and it was very uplifting.. Saturday we went and saw Marian who is a Luthern and not interested in joining but we stop by and visit her once in a while. She taught us lot about the luthern church and what she believed, and after all i could think about was how much i know that This is the true church, and that it is Christs church. A lady brought us over a casserole and bread for dinner.. but the bread was moldy.. but that was the only time i have questioned the food here.  Yesterday during companion study I fell asleep how embarrassing right? haha oh well... i won't live that one down. I'm just so tired all the time! being a missionary is physically exhausting, mentally exhausting, and spiritually exhausting.. but it's all good. I love you so much, and hope you are having a good day! and a great week! can't wait to hear back from you!

I love you!

kaylee!

She loves to get letters :)

10810 Spring Cypress Rd  #1222

Tomball TX 77375

Sister Goodrich

Our Home Elders

Elder Emerson on the left, and Elder Henry. Don't let their tags fool you they switched for our Halloween party. 😀

Sister Goodrich Gets a Bike.

This is one of the emails she sent home today. The others were just request for things like stamps and a flash drive. 


I"m so mad at you!! You just up and left and went to california!! Sheesh!
haha JK, Well glad you had a good time there. So this week has been......
good. We have some new investigators There is Joe she is 94 and she is Like
HIGH UP in MARY KAY, like I think she was one of the partners so that is
pretty cool or at least she was until she got too old. A lot of her family
is LDS and she has read the Book Of Mormon multiple times, and she knows it
is true, but she doesn't want to get baptized because her father was a
strong baptist and she thinks that it will hurt him if she is baptized.
Then we have Al, and he is very smart and knows a lot about different
religions, And everytime we said something he was like i agree with that,
and that. and then he was like why am i sitting here i need to get
baptized, so we are going to teach him the lessons, and maybe he will be
baptized. There is a Brother Jelly in our ward who was a general authority
a long time ago he is probably 70's he was blessed by Joseph fielding
smith, Way cool huh! and I get fed every day the members are really great
about that. I"m borrowing a bike from a lady in the ward, but it's broken
so it's getting fixed. So for the time being we are getting a lot of rides
from members and walking. So yeah it's fun :) our area is not too big, but
it's interesting.. we have some really wealthy homes (mansions) Moderate
homes ( bigger than ours) our house size, and tiny scary houses... That we
always end up walking to and from in the dark... But don't worry I"ll be
fine :) I love the ward here, and the people of texas they are so nice :)
Love you!

Sister Goodrich and Elder Davis

Create via InstaFrame

Sisters Are Fabulous

These two look extra great. This is sister Finery and sister Shcellhous. I'll have to double check the spelling on these names. Sister Goodrich spells them different in each email. It's nice to know she is in such good hands.

First P-day in Houston

 BEST PART OF THE LETTER TO DAD. Member missionaries are the best seriously.. maybe you could make that better announced in the ward. The members of the ward are who really do missionary work not us missionaries.  I"m going to come home and be an awesome member missionary.  

TO MOM. Ok seriously a long letter but i enjoyed it :) I will try and answer your questions. OK so first off. My new companions are Sister Flannery (Layton), and Sister Schellhouse ( San bernadino)

They are awesome and I love them so much already! Uh... A good experience is sleep.. Oh how i love sleep. I"ve never been so tired in my whole life, but somehow the Lord keeps waking me up in the morning. We have an investigator named Jacklyn and it's almost too good to be true. We told her that we have a living day prophet and she was like " I don't want to sound weird or anything... but that's AWESOME" so yeah it's pretty exciting.. We go tracting a lot because we don't have any referrals. So far I had a frog jump on my foot,... ugh.... a door slammed in my face, and a lady yell at us to leave, and dog jump all over me. A lot of noise at a house before we knock then we knock, and the house goes dead silent. So yeah haha it's GREAT!!! no but really it is.. Because I've learned not to take it personal because It's not ME they want to reject it's the Gospel, and that's really sad. Because sometimes I rather they just reject me.. I get to email from lonestar college.. it's a little crazy.. haha My schedule changes day to day. But basically we get up, excercise, eat, get ready, study, leave and teach the word, eat, leave and teach the word, eat and go home plan, and then sleep. The food here though is seriously AMAZING!!!!!!! I get fed dinner EVERY night, so it's Lovely. i hope you are feeding the missionaries at home.. Uh I can't send pictures this week but I will try to next week. I love you all!, HAve a good week!

Elder Brandon Johnson

This handsome man is my oldest childs favorite. Brandon has received his mission call to Washington, Tacoma. He will be leaving on October 30, 2013. We were blessed to get to go to the temple with him today. It is amazing to watch these youth grow, and prepare themselves to serve the Lord.

First Pictures From Houston

Loving the airport pictures! Thanks so much to great mission leaders that post pictures. See more at texashoustonmission.blogspot.com

Looks like she has two trainers, and i have proof she is eating :)

Oct 10th

> That's awesome everyone is doing well and Tyson is lookin super fly! I hope
> you can go to Elder Gibson's farewell and give him my love! Tell him I feel
> bad I never said bye to him and tell him bye haha. Thanks for the birthday
> wish too!
>
> First: I just wanted to say don't worry about me. I listened to this song
> that's basically a mother's prayer for her missionary son so I felt like I
> should tell you don't worry. Still pray because I need all the help I can get
> but I get taken care of really well here. Firstly by the older ladies of the
> branch. I don't know why but they love me a ton. Haha there's 3 of them and
> one is making me a sweater and she does a ton for me, another always wants to
> feed us and she just loves all the missionaries anyway, and then the third has
> given me the title "Pellumb i nenes" or "Pigeon of Mom" She says only 3
> missionaries have reached that status in her 10+ years of membership. Whether
> that's true or not ???? But they take care of me a ton. Our water was out for
> a couple days and they found out and kept offering to wash our clothes and all
> this stuff. We ended up taking one at the senior couples house and I was sick
> so the senior couple fed us soup too. And obviously God watches after us and I
> stay out of trouble. Pray, but don't worry. You're son is in good hands.
>
> Second: I love President Eyering's talk about angels and wanted to thank you
> for being the angels that continued to love their sinful son. I wish I had
> been better for you guys but thank you for always loving me no matter what.
> Thank you. I love you.
>
> Anyway for my week we taught like crazy! We barely have time to eat and do
> our studies with all the branch and missionary work we have. Not complaining
> though it's a huge blessing. We have 2 baptisms coming up on Saturday and they
> are both getting interviewed Tuesday so we'll see how those go. But the
> Sisters have one too. So that'll be 3 people getting baptized here. And
> that'll start a roll here. We'll have a baptism every week or multiple every
> other week for the rest of the transfer probably with how things are looking.
> I'm really excited and we're just doing all we can to make that all happen.
>
> We have been very very busy. Cutting P-days and lunch breaks short to take
> care of branch work so we don't lose time to do missionary work has been
> tiring but I can honestly say I'm probably working as hard as I can/harder
> than what is required/going the extra mile/doing my best however you wanna say
> it. I've always done my best in the situations I've been in but it's funny my
> training is the only time I've been with someone that doesn't hold me back.
> He's really good and it goes to show you that the Lord will make it work if
> you work hard, experience doesn't matter as much as work ethic and he's got a
> great work ethic.
>
> Sunday was amazing! We had 49 in church and we had more visitors in church in
> one Sunday than the whole month of September. Which is also way more than I've
> had any other month since I've been here. It's crazy all the success that
> we're having in Fier and that's all I can say about it really. I'm sorry I
> can't think of anything else to say really. Everything is just a blur and I
> can't believe I'm half way through. It's flown by and will probably continue.
> I'm loving every second of it.
>
> Dad, that would be a really hard position to be in. I guess life doesn't get
> easier once we finally get out of high school huh? I'm glad you have put
> yourself in a pretty safe position with work and hope I can do the same for my
> family so when something happens I can still provide for them. That's kinda
> scary to think about.
>
> Love ya tons mom

Sister Goodrich Has A New Address

Sister Kaylee Goodrich
10810 Spring Cypress Rd Apt #1222
Tombell TX 77375

She flew to Houston yesterday and is doing great. She said she has been so thankful for the letters and packages. She told me that letters are waaaay better than email and that they make her day :).

Another Elder Roberts

Tyson is a rock star and he knows it or at least i hope he does. I have watched him grow up the last few years, and know he will be a fabulous missionary. He will be heading off to the France Lyon Mission in just a couple of weeks. He will enter the MTC on October 30th. His parents are the Rocks that can handle having two young men out at the same time. I personally have learned a lot from this family and look forward to following the story of another Elder Roberts. This picture is in front of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.

Oct 3rd

Tell Tyson congratulations! That's awesome but being officially made an Elder 
will probably be about ten times more rewarding so stay focused! Lots can 
happen in a month!
 
I can't think of anything for that package sorry. Whatever you put in it I'm 
sure I'll love.
 
Yea I like Morgan's parents. They're way chill. I haven't talked to her dad as 
much but her mom is way chill and her dad is super smart so that's what makes 
Morgan the best of both worlds. Haha
 
I seriously can't even comprehend everything that is happening around me 
though. Like I hope it wasn't my lack of faith, but I never thought such 
amazing things could happen. The branch in Fier is changing so fast I can't 
keep up with it. I feel like I'm in the middle of a Mormon Message or 
something like that. It's unreal. I don't want it to end! Investigators are 
coming to us, calling us to meet, and eating everything up. The fruits of all 
these labors should start showing here in the next 2-3 weeks with people 
making their first covenants with God through baptism. They still have some 
improvements but we probably have about 5 people that could get baptized in 
the next few weeks. I hope they all work out but we're just gonna do what we 
can to guide them along. We actually had 8 investigators in church so that is 
really promising.
 
Besides the ones I've told you about before we added 2 more hopefuls this 
week.
 
One is named Albi and he is super chill. He loves meeting and listens super 
intently. The only issue is his smoking. Which is an issue with almost all 
Albanians but I think he smokes more than most. He was actually in jail for 
smoking ilegal drugs so we also have to find out how long ago that was and 
talk to President Ford about him.
 
One of the young men brought their older brother to soccer Saturday and we 
talked about Sabbath Day for the spiritual thought. I don't know if that's why 
the brother also came to Sacrament but he was there so we're gonna talk to the 
member Tuesday about teaching his brother. They brother's name is Saimir and 
he is super nice and seems like a really joyful person so I hope he works out.
 
We talked to another young man and he has 3 friends he's hit up about the 
gospel and wants to bring to church so we'll just have to work with him on 
making that happen. We did weekly planning and there's about 15 people we want 
to talk to about learning and our goal is about half of them (7) become new 
investigators. It's almost getting to be too much investigators so someone 
needs to get baptized soon. Haha we can't keep track of all of them. But we're 
planning on 2 being baptized in 2 weeks and hopefully a couple more the week 
after that. I just wish we had more time in a day to meet with all of them or 
maybe another companionship here for a few weeks. Haha that would be nice, 
traveling missionaries to go help areas get through super busy times. Haha
 
But yea this week we have high goals. We want those 7 new investigators and 
hopefully some with baptism dates, we want as much as possible in church, plus 
20 investigator lessons with more than half being member lessons. That's the 
standard of excellence for this mission so we're hoping we can pull it off. 
But it'll be hard and will be completely up to the Lord, but it's possible! 
I'm just super excited for this week!
 
But church was amazing this week. It was probably my first normal Sunday since 
I came to Fier. Callings are starting to be taken and working so we can start 
getting more out, church went smoothly and we had an Albanian teach each class 
which was awesome! The Lord's time is usually slower than my desired time but 
right now he's way ahead of us and we're trying to catch up but it's getting 
harder each week. But we just do our best and he's carrying the rest. Right 
now he's basically carrying me with Fier but hopefully I can help out more.
 
I can't even think of what to tell you honestly. It's hard to tell people at 
home because you don't understand because you're not here. Not saying I'm 
withholding information but I can't explain to you all the stuff that happened 
this week. We were just constantly in lessons and it was incredible. Every 
week has been crazy and I'm excited for another God guided week. I hope to be 
telling you about baptisms here in the near future and more progress in the 
branch.
 
I love you all and hope you all have an amazing week! Don't worry about me! 
Seriously though, I can't put into words how much the work is just being moved 
along by the Lord. I just am trying to not slow it down at this point. Have a 
great week! Bye!
 
 

Fwd: Thinking about you :)

 I will write you a longer letter, but I'm going to try and write the longest email I can, right now. Um yeah if you could send the hair dryer and straightner to Texas that would save me tons! I might try and send some stuff home that I don't need. I had to open up all of my space bags because all of my cold weather clothes were in them. It wass freezing so bad!!! haha as a result of that... I have a cold now, and my stomach is so sick... and I woke up with a fat lip this morning. so.. I'm heavily medicated ;p But even though I'm tired and sick I still am having a good time at the MTC. It's so awesome how much it has strengthened my testimony, and I'm learning soo much. It's unbelievable, There are 4 elders in my district, and 2 other sisters. We seriously are like a huge family it's awesome :) I love them all I will send pictures. I just have so much to say.. but it's hard to type it all right now, so I will write you a better letter later. I love the jacket you sent.. i just hope it will fit in my luggage.. haha I have so much random things... I love you very much! and time is running out!. MTC is awesome, The mission will be awesome, Teaching investigators is hard!, but you just have to learn to love them. I'm learning a lot. Smiling every day and I'm so happy! I will talk to you soon!
> PS WRITING LETTERS is WAYY!! better than email.. but you can email me too :) Ok never mind I can't send pictures.. I don't know how to upload them on here with all the security on these computers... so sorry! maybe i will get some printed out with i get to houston to send you or something... IDK