PEARSON!

Dear Parents. life is going good. my address is 1042 old Douglas Hwy, but if you want to keep it simple just send it to the mission office and it'll get to me.

so this week has been interesting for sure and after finding out that I'm getting transferred, i spent most of the day just getting everything ready for the next person to come in, which in this case was a new missionary.  We spent most of the day just deep cleaning the apartment and then getting everything spic and span, not saying I'm dirty but that there was a lot of extra stuff that needed to go. so continuing that day we went and said good bye to a lot of the families that i really liked in Chipley.  So it was a sad time but also good,  kind of weird going back to an area and then leaving it again.

so transfers.... we had a very different transfer this last time, the Tifton guys cam down pretty early with the AP's and what was weird was that the members who live in the tifton area made arrangements for the missionaries to stay with them while transfers were happening.  so kind of weird, transfers happened and then we went up to tifton and what was weird was we got to Tallahassee at about 7pm and then when we got to tifton it was 9pm which i thought was really interesting.  Georgia is a lot more open than i would of thought it's kind of like the feel of Alabama but nicer like Florida, anyways completely different than any other area I've been in. So long story short, we spent the night in tifton at a members home, to get ready for the next day and that was quite a trip. So as we are driving me and elder Kennington started talking and it was really quite interesting to get to know who he was and everything like that.  we get to Pearson and then find out that the town has only two stop lights and a small grocery store and there is a ward in this area which i was amazed at so that's Pearson in a nut shell, small but really happy to see us because there hasn't been missionaries here in over a year so they are starting to really help us out.

I love you all and things are starting to pick up

Love
Elder Gillespie

Raining Raining Raining

Tifton Here I COME!

Well that's the biggest news for me, that I'm now going to Tifton and serving at Pearson Georgia. with a missionary from the Macon Georgia Mission,  So a little bit of a background on that... so this last year this mission found out that they are dissolving the Macon Georgia Mission and with that breaking it up into different missions and for us in Tallahassee mission we are getting the Tifton stake which appears to be quite a large area and the area I'm going to be serving in seems to be pretty large, with just a few people kind a like Chipley. so I'm excited to get to another area and find out what it's like there and how the other mission works and how i can improve. I just hope i can get that through my thick head.

So back to Chipley.  This week has been like a small tropical storm and it started about Thursday. and it kept raining and raining, so anyways this week has been flying by.  Monday was just regular Monday with getting ready for the week and all that other fun stuff. 

Tuesday we needed to get to Crestview for Elder Cluffs' medication which a doctor in Crestview is a member and gives a huge discount for missionaries. So we took a little trip to Crestview which is where Cluff was serving before here and we went and saw a couple of people that he was working with while he was there and it was really neat to see the progress that everyone was making. Then came back and tried to help some people out around in Chipley, like our investigator Joel and his girlfriend, and we were able to help them understand what a prophet's role is and how it works with the rest of the world. It was cool to see him get the concept about a prophet.

Wednesday. we had a good old time trying to see people who of course didn't want to see us, which isn't bad but man it gets annoying pretty quick. The other thing I've noticed is that a lot of the people around town are out on vacation which means that they really can't answer the door if they aren't home. So we deal with what we've got. but that day we were able to see Joel again and see if he was able to get the whole prophet thing and had him explain it to us and he did a really good job with it. then had dinner with one of my favorite members just because she reminds me of grandma Spencer, so humble and so happy about life. It just made my night. than we went and did some church hopping and we got to see just how close our church is with their church and how they are run, but they just don't quite understand how exactly it is connected which is interesting.

Thursday again another good day had a lot of things fall through, but we did have a good time and this was when the rain started, and we actually were able to help out with a member who needed some good help, and able to involve some members who could actually do something. which was really good.

Friday, so this was a cool day, so we have been talking to a Muslim and able to just kind of go over basic beliefs from each other and he actually invited us to go to their service which is on Friday

sorry got to go

Love Elder Gillespie

Movies

Hello Everybody!

so this week has been quite interesting and that's for sure... it started out with the whole 4th of July and then going to district meeting... where we had a great discussion about listening to others as well as our companions and then also speaking of stating our purpose for why we are doing what we are doing, which went pretty well. that day i then went on trade off's with the zone leaders well one of them and from that we had a great time, i went back down to PCB and then saw a couple of people that i hadn't seen in well over a year, which was really kind of weird, and it was interesting to see how our lives don't really change all that much over the course of a year. so i had a great time there and it brought back a lot of memories, and guess what the entire time i was down there we walked every where which was totally different than the last time i was there. so that was really weird but cool at the same time. so leads us to Wednesday... we traded back and i came back to chipley and realized that we were going to have a movie night in two days and we needed to spread the word even more. so me and cluff went and tried to visit as many people as we could that we don't usually see in chipley so off we went. spreading the good word of the movie to all that we could. which then ended that day, except the final things we did that night was we went to another church and had a lot of fun there and then we went and gave a blessing to a child who wasn't feeling so good, then left back for home. so over all a pretty good night.

THORsday. we did our weekly planning and started getting more and more ready for the movie night, so we finalized some of the plans and everything that we needed to do and finished with visiting again people who don't really come to church all that much, and trying to get them to come to this movie thing.... I'll tell the title when we get there.  so before all that we had a lesson with a guy and he had some questions about life and what his purpose in life was so we spent a lot of time again on the plan of salvation, and then tying that in with the the gospel of Jesus Christ and then we were able to set a BCD with him and help him get on his way towards his baptism now it's in a couple of months, but it's a goal to shoot for.  then we went to see our cancer patient to see how she is doing and we get to the door and we find out that she isn't feeling well and doesn't want to be bothered. so we start writing a note for her and as we finish it she comes to the door and looks at us and then tells us that she isn't going to be in chipley anymore and is going to move with her son, just because she can't take care of herself. so with a shattered heart we head back home to help some other person, with some brownies. so we finished the brownies and started again to give out more and more fliers to the movie night, and give the brownies to a member who's been going through a really hard time. which ends this Thursday.

Friday...  the big premier. so that day we did our usual things on Friday like the service we had at the habitat for humanity and the chance to talk to one of the volunteers about the church some more and she is actually really interested in the family history side of the church and is getting more and more in depth with that and hopefully will be at our church on Tuesday during the hours that the family history center is open. so after all that we went off again to see people and invite them to the big movie thing. and the night approached we went to the church to set up everything and it turned out to go perfectly we had both bonifay and chipley people come to this event. We had pop corn, drinks and cookies and all sorts of treats  it turned out really well. and we watched Joseph Smith. Prophet of the Restoration.  and we got quite a few people to cry.

Saturday was a day that just was like all the rest, trying to see those people that we once contacted and then also trying to find new people, and trying to teach those who we have who want to learn more. so it's been a good time for all.

and then Sunday where i learned that if I'm feeling the spirit and being lead and guided by him then i therefore must be at least worthy to have that companionship and if i continue to push forward and keep becoming better than everything is going to work out for the best. Then we had a great little program and learned a lot and then had a lunch appointment with a member and we were able to have a great discussion with a member who is really inquisitive. We went over the first two lessons with her and in greater detail so that she could better understand a lot of her questions. and it turned out really well. and then the final place for the night we had a great hour and a half discussion with a guy who is really trying to better understand his purpose, so hopefully we'll get somewhere with him.

Love you all

And keep up the good work

Elder Gillespie

FIREWORKS!!!!!

Hello everybody!

This has been a interesting week, so for the Monday of last week i went on a trade off, with elder Jenkins in Bonifay, him and I got along really well. which was cool. well then after that we had Tuesday where we had dinner down in the Vernon area and we went biking down in a town of less than 1000 people and it was just really fun to go out and be in a different part of town. which we don't really visit just because we don't have miles to go down everyday which is the hardest thing in this area to do, budgeting our miles. We had a lot of fun just biking around town knocking on doors and we were able to see a really cool part of the country with a crystal clear stream and then a great dinner with a member and he showed us around his big old property, which was really cool. then off to splits, and it decided that night to have the bottom of the bucket fall out and there was so much water that i was getting nervous about falling off the road. then off to home and we needed to just park the car at the house and bike for the rest of the days that we had in the month.

Wednesday, it was quite a day and we were really able to enjoy the journey that we had with going about the town of Chipley. We had a lesson with Willie who we've been talking with for a while, then just asked him a question if he had any questions about life, and low and behold it was all about the 2nd half of the 2nd lesson about the plan of salvation so we were really able to help him understand the question that he had which was really cool. Then had the chance to knock on a door get invited in and then teach a lesson and gave the baptism invitation which was really cool to see on the first visit. and i think that we'll be able to help her come closer to God when she gets back from Chicago. That night we had splits again and this time a guy named Peter came and then Travis so we both went in two different directions.  I went and tried to see people that Travis needed to go visit, and the other guys went and had a great time visiting other churches which i heard went really well. and i had a great time with Travis and i relearned the importance of staying focused on the other people rather than myself. which was cool to hear from a less active and who wanted to just be honest with his life.

Thursday, was the first day in my entire mission where I've had to help pour cement (you know what i don't think I've lost any of that information that you've taught me dad.).  That was a great time just enjoying life. Then after that realized that we had a dinner appointment in an hour and we needed to bike there and it would take that hour to get there. So on we hopped and away we went, and I'll be honest I've never felt so tired and energized in my life afterwards than i did at that point. It was weird but really cool. We were about to bike back but the members wouldn't let us. but oh well.

Friday we had one of those days where everything that we planned just fell through which isn't cool but in the same instance we were able to see the miracles that happen because we were in an area at the right time but then just was moved a little bit so we could actually get some of the work done. and that was a night that we had a great lesson with a investigator. and it just was so good to see some light in someone's eye that was starting to grasp the gospel. It was just really cool to see that and then was able to get it and then we were blessed to give this investigator a blessing for her migraine which was bugging her for the last 24 hours, which was really cool.

Saturday in the park i think it was the 2nd of July... so that was a day of following up with everyone that we made contact with over the past couple of weeks to see if they would be interested more in the gospel. and there was some interest but not a lot and that's what we are trying to work with.  but it was really good to follow up with everything. and it was just a really busy day. nothing really exciting that sticks out.

Sunday was a good day we had a great sacrament meeting  and splits with another member and we were able to see a lot of people that we couldn't have seen just because of the miles problem again but it was really good to see the people that we did and to help others the best we could and i learned that if you really want to care and help others you need to understand what's going on in their life so you can help them

Monday a day of cleaning and getting ready for parties that we were invited to. and we had a great time with some members who brought an investigator over and we just showed that we were having a good time, and we are all just people trying to do our best for our Heavenly Father and trying to make the most of our lives.

I love you all

Elder Gillespie