Pumpkin Patch Kids

What a great week! We set 4 baptismal dates this week! It was so amazing! Miracles are exploding here in Waycross!

We met with Melissa Corbitt and some of her kids and they are all so ready to be baptised. We taught her and 2 of her daughters, Amaara and Kahlan, and also one of her sons, David. We taught them the restoration and the whole time they were pretty rowdy and asking a ton of questions some of them were legit and other ones they were just trying to be funny but we tried in the best way possible to help them understand everything. When we got to telling them about Joseph Smith and his vision of God and Jesus Christ, it was absolutely silent and the spirit was super strong. The rest of the time we could tell the spirit hit them hard and they all of the sudden started talking about baptism and what it is and how it didn't feel right when they were baptised. We explained it all to them and about priesthood authority and they all excepted the invitation to be baptised on december 8th! It was probably the best I have ever felt leaving a lesson. The change that occurred with everyone of them was undeniably the Spirit working through them and testifying to them that our message is true and the importance of it. There's no doubt in my mind that this is the restored church of Jesus Christ and that it was restored through the prophet Joseph Smith along with the Priesthood authority to baptize. Jesus Christ is at the helm and as long as we follow Him and His ordained prophets we cannot get lost and we will know what we must do in this life in order to return back into the presence of our Father in Heaven.

Sara is also still progressing and smoke free! She came to church yesterday and really enjoyed it. Melissa and her family will be coming to church next week so we are very excited for that! Please pray for us to find a new home for Melissa and her family and for Sara that she will continue to stay strong and not smoke and to continually be readin The Book of Mormon and meet with us. Thanks for all that y'all do!

We also went to Okeefenokee Swamp again this week to hang up Christmas lights which was super fun and we got super close to a big gator! It was pretty cool! 

That was about it for this week! I hope all is well with you all! I love yall so much! Happy Halloween!

Love,
Elder Plumb

1-8: the district at okefenokee! We went walking through the gator infested swamp and then climbed a big tower!

9: Another funny porch decoration!

10: this guy had a finger print scanner on his door!

Cruzin down the street in a Malibu

Helloooooo everyone! This week we had some good stuff happen! We had a great lesson with Sara and zone conference as well!

So with Sara we had the 7 days to quit smoking program lesson with her and she was super ready to quit. Basically this last week she needed to follow 15 steps each day and that would turn off all bells or triggers that caused her to want to smoke. She was able to do it! So tonight we are going to have a little celebration with her! She said it was pretty hard but she is seeing herself want to smoke less and less! 

Another amazing thing that happened was we may have found a potential place for Melissa and her family to live in! It may be a little small but its definitely better than what they have now. She is super excited to talk with us about it this week! Thanks for all of the prayers!

We also had zone conference this week which was super fun and spiritual! One thing that really stuck out to me was when they talked about fearing no man. That's something that's hard to do. As a missionary we sometimes fear people or the world more than we fear God even not as missionaries. It goes along with Elder Rasband's talk last conference called "Be Not Troubled". We all have our own fears but if we put our trust and faith in God then we can overcome those fears and really make a difference in our lives as well as others lives. God will only help us though as long as we put forth the effort by praying to Him to help us and then doing whatever is next. He's not going to just simply do everything for us. He gives us fears and weaknesses to help us learn and if does everything for us then we aren't going to learn. That mainly helped me realize that if I want to have more success as a missionary finding and helping more people then I have to put more of an effort in than just simply praying. I need to take it a step further and push away any fears I may have by being more persistent with people and really finding what the reason is for God putting them in our path.

Another really cool thing that happened at zone conference was we all got new kitchen appliances! They came to everyone's apartment this last week and got rid of all the many random and old kitchen utensils that have piled up in some apartments and threw most of them away or donated them and then gave us some pretty sweet new things! The coolest things we got were a Ninja blender, a waffle iron, and a George Foremen grill which we already had but everything else is pretty sweet! It was like an early Christmas! I'll send a picture of it all! And of course we went to Buffalo Wild Wings after zone conference! I love that place!

It's been another fantastic week as a missionary! I love being out here and seeing God's hand work some mighty miracles for those we see! I love you all so much and always remember that God loves us more than we can even comprehend and He wants to help us. Keep on keepin on!

Love,
Elder Plumb 

1-6: district pictures after zone conference!

7: NEW STUFF!

That's as cute as a rooster with socks on!

Anotha one from yo boi Elder Plumb! This has been a great week! We found a lot of really great people too! There was also a baptism in first ward this week which was really awesome! 

So the baptism was for a lady named Kathy in first ward who has been very excited to be baptised ever since she started getting taught! In the first lesson she said she wanted to get baptised right away and that she has a bathtub or a garden hose if they needed that lol! She has a very strong testimony as well. It's always amazing seeing how happy people are when they get baptised and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. 

We also were able to find a very elect lady named Shelby on saturday! We walked up to her house and her and her family were having a fire in their driveway. She saw us and was super nice and excited to talk to us. We talked to her about the Book of Mormon and she got even more excited and said that she has been praying for missionaries to come by and teach her because she had met them in the past but only once and very brief. She said that she really wanted to get back into studying the scriptures and said she would read the Book of Mormon to her kids every night! We are super excited to go back and teach her some more!

Sara was able to come to church and said she had a great time. We have a lesson with her later tonight on this 7 days to quit smoking program and she is really excited to get started! Please pray for her to have faith and strength to get through this program and quit smoking! Thanks!

We also found a few more people this week who we are excited to teach and help progress. All in all we are very blessed in this area and miracles just keep coming in!

The hurricane wasn't bad at all just in case yall were wondering. It just got a little rainy and windy at night time and made a few small branches fall off of trees so nothing bad at all. All is well here in Waycross!

I hope everything is going great with all of you! I love you all and am very grateful for all of you! Thanks for all of the love and support! Keep on keepin on!

Love,
Elder Plumb

These were some funny things that we saw on someone's porch!

                                                           It reads, "Wipe yo' feet honeysmile!"

                                   It reads, "If yo' smokes, Keep yo' butts outside honeysmile!"

NOT THAT LEFT! YOUR OTHER LEFT!

Hey everybody! Anotha week has gone by and it's been anotha good one. It was my first week with Elder Babcock and it has been pretty good! He's an interesting guy but we've had a good time together so far. He's been out one transfer longer than me and is from California.

General Conference was super good as always! Their was some pretty big news with Sunday services goign to 2 hours next year! Everything in that was kinda confusing to me but I'm sure it will all make more sense as the weeks go by. Of course President Nelson announced 12 new temples! He is just building those like crazy! I can't wait until he announces one for Jacksonville! I really loved the talks as well! There were a lot of really good ones! I really loved Elder Hollands of course and Elder Bednars along with President Nelsons on the name of the church. There were so many other good ones but those three were definitely my favorite. I'm so grateful that we have a living prophet on the earth today to receive revelation from God to help us in these last days. These changes going on lately are proof that the Restoration of Christ's church is still going on and that God hasn't shut His mouth on us. We will always know what to do as long as we heed the words of the Prophet and his apostles and have faith that they are God's chosen people to lead and guide His church here on the earth and prepare us for the second coming of Jesus Christ. We are so blessed!

Last week we were also able to set a baptismal date with Sara! It's for November 10th but we may have to move it because she is going to be very busy with renovating her house this week. She said she will be at church this sunday though which she actually will do unlike a lot of people out here! We are super excited for her and her daughter who is a member in Utah is super excited as well! Please pray for her to be able to meet with us often and that she will be receptive to the things we teach her.

Well that's about everything that has happened this week! I hope you all have a great week! Love yall!

Love,
Elder Plumb

1-3: Me and Afro Pat

4-5: Donuts with the district

I'm not saying Jesus is Thor but...

I hope everyone has had a good week! This week has been a little crazy and very eventful! We had interviews, the temple, and transfer call this week! Crazy stuff!

The transfer call was this last saturday night and I'm actually staying! This is now 3 transfers here in Waycross and that's never happened to me before! I'm super excited to stay because I love this area a lot! Sadly Elder Ivie is leaving and I'm gonna miss him a lot. We had a great time together! My new companion is Elder Babcock. I've heard some good things about him so I'm pretty excited to work with him. 

The temple was also this week which was easily the highlight of the week! It was of course very spiritual and all stress and worldly problems felt like they were on hold while I was there. It was very peaceful and I felt very close to God. There's nothing better than going to the temple that's for sure. It was a full day trip also because we had to drive about 4 hours to the temple from jacksonville and also back to jacksonville plus back to Georgia! We also stopped at cafe rio after the temple so that took up some time as well. It was all worth it though!

This week we had a lesson with this lady named sara who has some pretty good potential! Her daughter is a member in Utah with her foster family and wants to serve a mission so she knows quite a bit about the church and missions. So we taught her the Restoration and she loved it and also has told us that she really wants to quit smoking! She also came to church yesterday which no one seems to want to do here in Waycross but she did it! She has some interesting hippy beliefs which raise some interesting questions she has but she is still wanting to learn and it seems like she wants to be baptised! It was definitely a miracle that we found her because she said that her daughter had prayed for missionaries to find her only a few days before we did! There's no doubt God lead us to her.

I've started reading the New Testament again last week and I noticed something in Matthew that I really liked. In Matthew 1:23 it mentions that Christ would be called, in Hebrew, Emmanuel which means "God with us." In the last verse of Matthew the Savior says, "I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." With these two things at the beginning and end of his Gospel, Matthew may be identifying a message running throughout the Gospel of Matthew. That God will never forget us and that he is always with us. That is such a significant thing know. Whenever life gets too hard or too stressful or we feel completely alone, we always have God there to keep us comforted and to help us through whatever challenges we may face. Our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us more than we can comprehend and they want to help us through life. We just have to allow them too and have faith that they can.

It was a very hectic week but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world because I got to go to the temple and I was busy doing the Lord's work by helping others to come unto Christ. I love being a missionary and I love this Gospel and the opportunity I have to share it with others! I love everyone one of you so much and I wish y'all the best!

Love,
Elder Plumb

P.S.  the weekly title came from this really crazy guy that some members told us to go over to their house and teach the plan of salvation to. Probably the weirdest lesson I've had on my mission! It was very confusing and the whole time I thought it was a prank but it wasn't so...

1: A really funny sign we found!

2: I visited Colorado for a bit!

3: we found a cotton field!

4-9: The temple!

 The Gourley's (on the left) came up from Palatka, FL to go through temple with these missionaries.  They also took Calvin out for a birthday lunch on his bday!  They are amazing Saints and we are so grateful for their love and support! 

Calvin and his old companion! 

 President and Sister Lee and the year mark missionaries!

The each took a family name to the temple at their year mark Orlando Temple trip!  Calvin had Elmer Plumb

Calvin with some of his favorite missionary friends.  Elder Lamb on the right was in his district in the MTC