Sister Yount's Adventures in Georgia: Baptism, transfers, and Temple!

Monday May 30, 2017

Hi y'all!

Obviously I need to be writing more, since a lot has happened! I had the opportunity to participate in my first convert baptism, work with a new companion, and go the the Atlanta temple, all one after another!

Bridget's baptism was a couple weeks ago, and it was pretty great! She scheduled it for the day before Mother's Day, so Sister Anderson and I were running around trying to get organized for the baptism and Skyping our families the next day. Plus, we were also itching to know what was going to happen with transfers on Sunday night,since Sister Anderson had been in the Braselton area for 6 months which is usually the maximum amount of time before you get transferred to another area. It all turned out all right, though. Our new branch mission leader actually came to the baptism and helped us set up and he seems really excited for this new role in missionary work! And of course, Bridget was so excited to be baptized. It has been such a neat experience to watch her learn and grow in the gospel. She is only 9, but I know she will make a great member and has already made the promise to read her scriptures and pray every day to show that she is following Jesus Christ.

The next day she was confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and welcomed into the branch. And that night, I got to talk to all the family! It was so hard to keep it short, especially since we also got calls from the assistants that night about transfers. Sister Anderson left to become a sister training leader in the Sugarhill zone, and Sister Otukolo came here to Braselton! Which meant that I got the chance to lead out the area by remembering all the people and places here and planning out the days. Sister Otukolo was in a bit of a shock when she first got here, since she had only ever been in one area here o her mission for her first 6 months, and it was in a very rich, city-like area while Braselton is the opposite - more country and open fields and trees with smaller houses and nicer people at the door. :) It has been hard to say goodbye to Sister Anderson, but Sister Otukolo and I are getting on well now. She is from Hawaii, and has the laid-back, friendly attitude to go with it. I am learning even more how to be a focused, obedient, confident missionary from her. We are working right now on reactivating some of the less-active and part-member families in the branch, and as always, tracting. I am excited to get to know her in the coming weeks and for the work we are going to do here in Braselton!

The temple trip was last Tuesday, and it was so fun! We and another companionship of sisters all rode up together to the Atlanta temple with a member to attend the 10 am session. It really gave me such peace to be in the temple again! We even meet a couple of girls there preparing to go on their missions! It was such an amazing experience to be there with the other sisters from the zone.

Until next time!

Love you all!

Sister Lauralee Yount

Georgia Peach 2