Spaghetti Sauce and Bananas!

Yellooooo! This week I had no money so we only got bananas and spaghetti sauce so hopefully I lose some weight this week lol!

Not too much happened this week but we did have the ryals hang out with another family in our ward, the killebrews, twice! The first time we were there and it was really fun! They got along really well so now the ryals will be a lot more comfortable coming to church! The second time they hung out it went pretty well too except sister killebrew said that they have been looking up stuff about the church which always leads to anti-mormon sites so we will have to talk to them about that... but other than that everything is going great!

We couldn't get anyone to church because we had stake conference which is all the way in Kingsland which is almost 2 hours a way so the ryals said they will come next week. We talked to Franny for only a little bit because she is about to have a baby so she has been pretty busy with various things. She is still very interested in learning more and coming to church though!

At stake conference there was a member of the Area Seventy there, Elder Patrick. He gave a really good talk on faith. He talked about the Israelites right before they went to take over the city of Jericho and how they all looked to Joshua to tell them what they should do. Joshua told them they were going to circle the walls of the city once a day until the seventh day they would do it 3 times and then blow some trumpets and yell really loud and then the walls will come down. Imagine what the Israelites thought when he said that! Thats really crazy! But they should there faith and trust in the prophet and followed his word even though it seemed very crazy and impossible. He related that to our lives how we need to always follow the words of the prophets no matter how crazy it may sound and have faith that everything will work out in the end. We may always be going to church learning the same things over and over again but if we show our faith and diligently follow God's commandments by going to church then we will receive our reward whatever it may be. It was a super good talk and really helped me realize how powerful faith is.

I hope y'all have had a great summer! It's coming to an end! About one month left! I'm really excited for it to get a little cooler! I love y'all so much and hope everything is going great! 

Love,

Elder Plumb

JOHN CENAAAAA!

Hey everybody! It's been another great week down in da south! The Ryals family has made really good progress as well as Franny! Also the transfer call happened! I'm gonna be staying in Waycross with Elder Ivie! I didn't think I would be transferred so I wasn't worried. We also did some more service at Okeefenokee Swamp and saw a ton more gators! 

We had such an amazing lesson with the Ryals this week! So we went over and brought Bryce who just returned from his mission in Spokane, WA and also his mom as well. They were absolutely amazing during the whole lesson! We taught the Ryals part of the Plan of Salvation because they have had a ton of questions about the spirit world and life after death because they have had some crazy experiences in their life and a ton of struggles relating to the all of that. We really focused on the purpose of the Fall of Adam and Eve and the purpose of life and the Atonement. At the end of the lesson, we asked them how they felt about everything we have talked about and they thought about it for a little bit and then said we don't feel lost anymore. That was such a huge thing for them to say because they have really been struggling with feeling like they can't be forgiven because of past things they have done and now they understand that they always have Christ there to help them through everything. They also said that they have really felt a difference in their house ever since we've been coming by and their daughters really want to come to church and they have never wanted to for a long time because of things that have happened in the past. It's been such a blessing to see the Spirit work with them and slowly convert them to the Gospel.

Franny has been super busy so she hasn't been able to read the Book of Mormon. We stopped by and talked with her for a little bit and added her on Facebook so now we are just sending her scriptures through facebook messenger and she has really liked that. We've been doing the same thing with the Ryals as well and they have enjoyed that too! We invited both the Ryals and Franny to church but the Ryals are still trying to get Sundays off for work and Franny was sick because she is just about to have another baby. They are both still noticing the Spirit in their lives and the wonderful difference it has made with their families.

I have such a big testimony about the Book of Mormon and the Spirit it brings into our lives when we read it. Especially when we are busy and sacrifice any little time off that we have to read it, God blesses us greatly for showing our faith and diligence in keeping his commandments. I have been so blessed to see this happen first hand to many people and families out here. The Book of Mormon is truly the word of God and will change our lives for the better just by diligently reading and studying the teachings it contains. The time I feel the closest to God in a day is when I'm reading the Book of Mormon. It truly is another testament of Jesus Christ.

I'm very happy to be staying here in Waycross and I'm very excited to continue to help others receive the blessings of this glorious Gospel! I love you all so much! Please pray for the Ryals and Franny! Keep on keepin on!

Love,

Elder Plumb

Also the reason for my title is when we went and saw Franny, her little boys came out and started talking with us and one of them said that I look like John Cena! I was so flattered and also super confused!

Also my weekly title from last week was from a little clip that Elder Ivie has from the movie "The Best Two Years". It was a super funny clip so I just put it as my weekly title! I'll send the clip so yall can see!

It Came Out Of Verengay!

How's it going everybody! The title is just a quote that made me laugh this week lol! This week has been pretty good! We found some new people to teach and we are super excited to go back and teach them! We haven't been able to get people in church here yet but we had some really good contact with a few of the people we are teaching!

First we had a lesson with Franny who is a young mother of I think 4 kids so it gets super crazy when we go over! We have gone over a few times before and taught her about the Book of Mormon and a lot of other things that she had questions about. She has shown a lot of interest and has some really good questions. We taught the Restoration to her this week and she said she felt the Spirit so strong. She said that she almost started to cry when we talked about the vision that Joseph Smith had of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. She really loves learning about everything we teach her and has shown interest in coming to church but its been hard because she has some crazy boys and her mom lives with her too and she is super crzy as well! Her mom came out in the middle of the lesson with all of the screaming kids and  asked if we could give her a ride to the store! When we said no she asked if we could go buy some stuff for her at the store! It got super crazy so we left pretty quickly but we are going to go back and invite her to church and have hopefully multiple lessons with members this week with her!

We also were able to see the Ryals, Corey and Krystal, again this week but onlly for a little bit. We had an appointment set up but they were busy with something and said that they would let us know when we could come back. Yesterday we messaged Krystal on Facebook messenger and had a good conversation with her on there! So previously she was working at Walmart during the night shift from like 10 pm to 7 am or something like that so thats why they were always super busy. But she told us that she got a new job at KFC so she will be available a lot more now and is waaaayyyyy less stressed! So we also stopped by yesterday night with Bryce Bennett who just got home from his mission last monday and he gave them some cookies from his welcome home party and we were able to set up a time to teach them later on today! Last night she told us that her daughter really wants to come to church to make some friends so she said they will probably be coming next week! We are super excited about them!

Recently I watched the Mormon message called Flecks of Gold. Its about a young gold propector who was panning for gold in a river and he kept getting nothing but little tiny flecks of gold. He wasn't happy with the little flecks, he wanted gold nuggets. Then an old prospector came and told the young man that all the flecks of gold were very valuable and when collected over time would bring him great fortune. Thats how it is with life. Alma in the Book of Mormon taught that "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass". Doing the simple things that don't seem like big things at the time like showing appreciation for things or just saying I love you to someone can bring us a lot of blessings when we continually do them just like gathering a lot of flecks of gold will bring us great wealth.

It's been a great time here in Waycross, Georgia! I hope y'all are doing great! I always appreciate any little emails I receive so please email me! I love you all so much! Keep on keepin on and hoorah for Israel!

Love,
Elder Plumb

1. There are waaaayyyy too many trains here! I got a cool pic from it though!

2. SQUAD

3. My rapper name given by the one and only Afro Pat

4. Awesome dog licking my ear! He looked like scooby doo!

5-8. Waycross district 

9. Me and Afro Pat

10. Also I shaved my head.

Oh Boy!!!!

It's been another great week in Waycross! We have been working really hard and have seen some pretty great miracles this week! 

We got a referal for this lady named melissa and her family from a member in Washington and so we visited her this week. Turns out she is in a pretty tough situation and is very stressed about a lot of things including her health. She said her friend said that we could give her a blessing so we did and she said she felt a whole lot better afterwards. She said she has been looking for a new church for her and her kids to attend and that she really wanted to know more about ours. That made us so happy when she said that! We taught her about the Book of Mormon and gave her one and told her about all the blessings her and her family can receive just by reading it. We are super excited to talk to her again.

We also met the Ryals family! They have been taught in the past by missionaries and one of those missionaries told us to go visit them so we did and they are very elect! They stopped talking with missionaries because those missionaries were too pushy so we have to be careful on that. We talked to them about a lot of things but we basically just cleared up all questions and concerns they had and invvited them to read the Book of Mormon and they said they would give it another chance! They are super cool and are very into horror movies which I love so we talked a lot about that. They have a few setbacks and some concerns still so it might take a while for them to progress but we can definitley tell that they are ready for the Gospel. 

Also the sister missionaries in our ward had a baptism this week! Four actually! The Killebrew family got baptized on Saturday and it was amazing! They have been working with the sisters for a very long time and are now members of the church! They are a very amazing family and I'm super happy for them!

Latley I've been studying Elder Lynn G. Robbins talk from last General Conference called "Until 70 times 7". It is a super good talk and I love the quote he has by Thomas Edison, "I didn't fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps." That can be compared to life. Failure is a good thing if we look at it in a positive way. We all fail or have big trials and problems in our lives that we let bring us down or we let them become burdens but if we look at everything that happens to us in a possitive way and as a learning experience then we will eventually succeed and be better people because of it. We can learn something from everything that happens to us and God made life that way to help us. Elder Robbins talked about repentance as well and how that is also a good thing that we need to continually do because we are always making mistakes. We need to learn and not dwell on those mistakes though and sincerely want to change for the better which is what true repentance is. I love studying conference talks!

So far Waycross has been amazing just like the rest of the areas I've served! I love it here! I love each and every one of you so much! Email me! Thank you all for being great examples in my life! Keep on keepin on!

Love,
Elder Plumb 

Zone Conference and Gators!

Yellooooo! This week was pretty sweet! On Tuesday we did some service at okeefenokee swamp. It was super fun! Its a giant swamp with tons of gators! We raked a lot of grass out of part of the swamp and saw a lot of spiders and snakes come out as we did it! Is was pretty freaky but fun at the same time! Afterwards we walked around an saw some really big gators! It was sweet! Ill send pics!

We found quite a bit of new people to teach this week and they have some really good potential so I'll let y'all know about them in the next few weeks as they progress. We also were able to talk to one of the people we are teaching named Isaiah. He's been going through a hard time so we were able to have a good long conversation with him about how him going to church and reading the Book of Mormon will help him through the hard times and he will have the spirit with him a whole lot more by doing those things. We talked about a lot of things and he said he always feels better after talking to us and we told him that's because he's feeling the spirit and he have even better feeling by attending church. He said he's never been a church guy but said he would try if he could and would read the Book of Mormon for sure so we are excited to see him again this week and see how far he's read.

There was also zone conference this week! It was super good as always! They talked a lot about the PEARLS which stands for Prayer-before and after lessons, Expectations-set them, Authority-teach about priesthood authority, Read the Book of Mormon from the beginning, Lessons- 2-3 a week with he person being taught, and Search the teaching record. They also talked a lot about asking inspired questions. That's how we can really discern the needs of those we teach. They talked about the spirit as well and how important it is to have the spirit with us when we teach. The spirit is what truly converts people and testifies of truth. If we teach without the spirit we aren't going to help those we are teaching at all.

This week I read a really good scripture in 2 Nephi 33 and it's verse 6. These are some of Nephis last words and he is testifying of Christ. He says, "I glory in plainness; I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell." That scripture really stuck out to me. Nephi had been such a good example in doing everything the Lord asked him to do and he did a lot of really hard things despite the negativity of his brothers and here he gives all the glory to the Lord. He sets yet another example of humility and understanding how much the Lord does for us. I also really love that he says MY Jesus. That shows the powerful relationship he had with the Savior and really just makes me want to have that relationship as well which can be achieved by doing the things that Nephi did and following his amazing example. I really love the Book of Mormon and I've learned so much from it and continue to day after day. I love being out here helping others to feel the spirit I've felt from it and to receive the same blessing I've received from it. I've seen it bless my families life and all I want is to help others understand the importance of it so they will read it and follow the teachings in it so their family can be blessed as well.

I love you all so much and hope all continues to go well! Keep on keepin on! 

"As I read, the spirit of the Lord was upon me, and I knew and comprehended that the book was true, as plainly and manifestly as a man comprehends and knows that he exists." - Parley P. Pratt

Love,

Elder Plumb 

After zone conference we went to friendship fountain and each had a photo shoot.

Also I set up my hammock in my apartment!

And we saw a HUGE banana spider at someone's house

BINGO!!

Wassup everyone! This week has been amazing! He have a ferw people we are working with that are showing really good potential!

First this week we went and played bingo at the senior center and got to talk with a lot of them there. That was super fun! So there is a guy there named Joe who goes all the time and later on in the day we just happened to knock on his apartment door and he invited us in to teach him! Talk about God working in mysterious ways! Anyway we taught him about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the spirit was super strong. We invited him to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and he said that he would definitely do that. 

We also met this guy named Isaiah who didn't know anything about Mormons which is pretty rare down here. So we talked about the Book of Mormon with him and he was super interested in it and is really excited to read it and learn about everything in it. He's already read part of the first chapter of    1 Nephi which is a lot farther than most people get down here. We are super excited to teach him and help change his life and his families life. It's always really great when we meet people who have that desire to seek for and understand truth and who want to continually grow closer to their savior.

So far things are going really great here in waycross! Im lovin the area and the people here. Elder Ivie and I are having the best time and way too much fun! I love you all so much! Keep on keepin on!

Love,

Elder Plumb 

2 buh 4s and maccheekens

Wassah! Its been a great week in Georgia! I'm lovin it here so far! The only complaint is the gnats! I thought they were bad in Florida but oh man are they crazy here! Its super beautiful here and the members are the best! This place is like an upgraded Palatka! Their accents are so awesome! There are two examples in my title! We helped put in someone's floor in their house and they needed a lot of 2 by 4s and we had some mcchickens from McDonald's! Oh man I love it haha!

This week Elder ivie and I had a ton of fun and worked really hard! We were able to find a lot of new people to teach. The people here are just like Palatka. They will listen to us but keeping the commitments is a lot harder for them to do. We have found some promising people that we have faith will keep the commitments we left with them so we are praying for them to progress.

Right now I'm just trying to get the area down and remember all the names of everyone! So far so good! I'm lovin it here!

Something I learned this week that I really loved! The Book of Psalms is just a big book of songs and poems prophesying the life and ministry of Christ. It's super cool cross referencing a lot of those scriptures with scriptures in Matthew and relating them!

I love you all so much! I hope you all have a great week! Email me if you can! Keep on keepin on!

Love,

Elder Plumb