Sister Emma Petty Charleston West Virginia

HELLO EVERYBODY!! I hope you're having a great day :) I have been absolutely loving Martinsville lately, and all the people here! I'm still adjusting from middle of nowhere Peterstown, though... I had to give a talk in church yesterday and the 50 people in the congregation felt like a stadium compared to what I've been used to! So when I finally go back to Utah it's going to feel REAL strange, hahaha. I also am not ready to drive on these roads... seriously! They're crazy! There are stoplights and multiple lanes and OTHER CARS! It's too much for me. I've been riding passenger my whole time here, hahaha. But for real, Martinsville is just so awesome! We had a couple of AMAZING lessons this week with our friends who are working towards baptism! We were doing a workshop to help one of them stop smoking, and as we went over all the steps for giving up cigarrettes, both he and his wife commented on how grateful they were to at least have coffee. They could rely o...

  Hey hey everybody! And happy Monday! I hope you all had a great weekend and that you are just so stoked for the wonderful week ahead of you :) This week has sure been a busy one for us! Something I forgot to mention last week is that I am actually a social media leader now! And I think I got that call because of my negative attitude towards social media... but it's okay because I'm learning to love it! And I'm learning how important it is to find in the Savior's way, not just my preferred way :) What I used to think was a waste of time (and I let my trainer know it, sorry Sister Garrison) has proved to be one of the most effective ways to find the people searching for Jesus Christ! We have been able to see SO MANY miracles this week as we have put our best efforts into every moment, even on Facebook! One miracle was our friend Tammy :) She has been taught off and on for MONTHS, and we started talking to her on Facebook and then went over this week to meet with her and...

  Hi guys! I hope you're having a great day!!  I moved to my third area this week- Martinsville Virginia! There were a bunch of tears and goodbyes as I left all my friends in Peterstown, oh, I will miss them so! But they taught me so much and helped me become a better person and for that I am so grateful♡ Fun story from this week- remember that rotten racoon I skinned back with Sister Smith and Sister Humphreys?? Yeah, it had been sitting on the porch for a good while and I decided to send it to my brother as a birthday present! I just wanted to let you know where it ended up in case you were wondering, hehe. Nate was NOT happy. But I have already had sooo many cool experiences in Martinsville! We went to an event called "Franks and Dranks" which turned out to be a bunch of adults getting drunk in the park and eating hotdogs. Not really what we had pictured. But it was okay because we ended up playing cornhole with the security guard! And now he wants to come to church wi...

  HAPPY 4TH OF JULY EVERYBODY!! Let me just tell ya, this week was WILD! Like, for real.  We had a TON happen this week, but the biggest thing was when I found out I am being transferred out of Peterstown. My heart is a little sad :( I am so so grateful that I was blessed to serve in this amazing place, every single person here as touched my life so much! I am just beyond blessed to have known them all :) I was looking back at my journal at all the time I have spent in Peterstown, and I remembered that I was honestly TERRIFIED when I first got here. There was so much change and I didn't know what lay ahead! So how was I supposed to go forward?  Even though that time was so scary, I'm so glad I was able to walk forward in faith because there were SO many blessings on that path! Blessings I would have never seen if I stayed back because of doubt or fear. Remembering that experience makes it a lot easier to move forward now. Brother Mann shared his testimony with me because ...

  Hey hey everybody!! I am just so happy that I get to talk to yall today :) Things here in Peterstown have been exciting! We've seen some miracles lately, but not necessarily the ones we were expecting, hahaha. Brother Mann announced in our missionary devotional that he FINALLY understands the importance of missionaries meeting with members!! (Shout out to Sister Humphreys and Sister Smith, we never thought this day would come, hahaha)  That was a big success that helped me deal with a really rough week, hahaha. We have had so many doors slammed in our face this week, so many people bash and mock us, and so many friends drop us. It has been really hard to find the motivation to keep on trying. It's hard to choose faith in those moments! But that's when I look back at past miracles and trust that my God is a God of miracles. I just need to trust that He is working right now, even when I don't see it! My cute friend Gigi sent me the most amazing message about Moroni 10 t...

  Hellooo friends!! This week I learned why West Virginia has the nickname "Wild & Wonderful"!! I think that's the only way to describe it, hahaha.  There have been some WILD stories this week- we watched a guy bash his own pastor right in front of us and tell his congregation that we were the only true church on earth. Then he told us that he is still happy going to that church and doesn't want to change. I also had a hillbilly sing me a love song in front of a HUGE crowd. That his wife was in. A little bit embarrassing, but hey! It was actually a pretty good love song... so I'm not complaining :) I was looking back today and realizing how much my life has changed since my mission. If you knew me before my mission, I was a little bit of a mess. I cried a LOT (and yes, I still do, haha) but I could never figure out what was wrong or why I was feeling so lost! I looked everywhere I could think to find happiness, but, for some reason, I just had this empty feeli...

Guess what yall!! I'm writing this from the ER- AGAIN!! Crazy life, huh??  This time we're chilling though, I just have to hang out and fill out some paperwork :) So you get another ER email, yay!!  We had a couple of victories this week! Our friend Lisa LOVES the Word of Wisdom and sings about it all the time, hahaha. It was NOT what I expected, but totally awesome! We also had a couple of losses this week, though... about half of our friends we are teaching told us they are not interested in the gospel. That HURT. It was so sad to see the people I love choose not to accept the thing that has brought me SO much happiness!  I had a really hard time with it at first. I kept thinking back to President Nelson telling us to "expect miracles", and I felt like that was exactly what I was doing! If I was expecting miracles and had the faith that they would happen, then why aren't they happening?? That's when I learned something- we can seek and expect miracles, but w...

Ok yall, this email is going to be WACK I'm currently writing this from the ER, haha. Let me catch you up: This weekend we got into a car accident by trying to miss a deer and instead hitting a tree, then a family of firefighters passed by and let us chill with their puppy while we waited on the tow truck.  We were picked up and went to a parade where we rode in a float with a bunch of striking steel workers, who all found out about our car accident because it had blown up all over Facebook. (It's a very small town.) It's ok though, a little girl gave me candy because she felt bad for us :)  And if that isn't enough for you, a baby bird fell out of a tree right in front of me and broke its neck.  And this all happened in one day, before noon. If you told me this was a dream I would believe you.  And that is how I ended up in the ER! I get to wait here and find out if I have a concussion, woop woop!!  But even though this week has been absolutely CRAZY, I have be...