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Hello loved ones! 

Well so this week was so dang good!! We had SO many miracles and taught quite a few lessons! AND we now have 6 investigators who will be baptized in the coming months!! I am so excited!! However, of course this would all start happening with things going so well and seeing miracles left and right the week right before I get TRANSFERRED!!!! I got the call on Friday and I was told that I would be leaving and I just cried. I was devastated. And I'm the only one getting transferred out of the entire district. And the only sister out of the entire Zone...there is only one other missionary getting transferred out of the entire Zone....so yeah... All week I have been telling Sister Abana that I did not want to leave and that I love Medford SO much. So much so that she's probably sick of it haha. But in all seriousness I love this ward. I love the people. And we have such awesome investigators that I love so much! I love this place and these people. I have grown so close to so many in the 6 months that I have been here. Yesterday at church was so bittersweet, I was called up to give my testimony having no idea what I was going to say but I just felt so overwhelmed with love for these people. I think I kinda felt it coming but I never really thought that my days in Medford would come to an end. And as much as I don't want to leave I will go and do the Lord's will wherever He wants me to go. I know He will send the missionaries that these people need and I trust Sister Abana with everything. She is more than ready and capable of taking over this area. More so than she thinks she is. I'm going to miss her too. We have had so much fun together as companions! And I'm going to miss her cooking....but I will miss her more! Haha she is seriously so great. I have loved serving with her.

And transfers are tomorrow. Which should be fun and I'll let you know where I end up next week! So last week we taught Augustine and Priscilia our I investigators from Africa. They both are so funny and so great! They were introduced to their cousin Juliana who is from Africa as well and who joined the church a little over a year ago. We taught them three times this week and invited them to be baptized and they accepted!! When teaching them about the Book of Mormon and The Restoration, Augustine was a little more hesitant because he loves the bible and he was just comparing the two until Julianna told him to "stop that!" And to start having a humble heart while reading and praying. Because that is the only way he will know if it's true. And so he did. When we came back the next time he told us he had been reading and that he stopped comparing them and started keeping an open mind and an open heart. One lesson while we were reading in The Book of Mormon in 1 Nephi 1 Augustine stopped and told us what he thought one verse meant regarding prophets and he asked us for clarification and we reassured him and then he said "oh this makes so much sense!!" And I said "yes! It does! Because it's true!" He is loving reading The Book of Mormon now and he had been praying and feels as the God is telling him that the things are are teaching him are true. I love watching people gain a testimony of The Book of Mormon and of The Restoration. 

And Priscilia came to us and told us that she had a cool experience where she prayed asking if what we are teaching her is true and she said that she had a dream of the Savior coming to her in a dream and reassuring her of the things we have been teaching her. She said that she believes that every girl we have taught and continue to teach is and will be true. I was so grateful for what a miracle that was for her to receive her answer in that way! They are excited to be baptized! And I'm excited to get pictures! Because I, getting transferred...but that's okay...

Then we had a few lessons with the new family from Georgia and her kids Ally and Matt are so amazing!! They impress me so much. They remembered so much of what the missionaries taught them and we invited them to be baptized and they are so excited to be baptized! I wish I could be here to continue to watch them grow but I know they will be well taken care of. 

Then on Saturday the ward helped us to put on a baby shower for our other investigators I've mentioned a few times Lisa and Steve. Lisa is due in about 2 weeks and is a first time mom and they didn't have much for Baby Eli. So the ward pulled together and they were kind enough to have a baby shower for them. Lisa and Steve were so grateful and I was grateful to see them so happy. I can't remember if I told the story of how we met Lisa and Steve but I'll tell it again. 

So a few months ago one day in the middle of summer Sister Jolley and I were walking around in Mt. Holly doing some finding when we weren't having much luck that day when we turned the corner on this street where there was absolutely NO ONE walking around. When out of the corner of my eye I saw this tiny little pregnant girl with a small little baby bump walk out of a side street. And immediately I thought "eternal families!" She was quite a ways ahead of us but I decided to call out to her. She turned around and I jogged up to her and started talking with her. I introduced myself and she introduced herself as Lisa. She told us that she had lost her jacket and was just out trying to find it and asked us if we would like to help. And so we did. She asked who we were and where we were from thinking that we were of another particular faith she didn't want to be affiliated with for some reason. But we told her about the church and I started talking to her about Eternal Families. That interested her seeing that she was having a baby in a few months. She asked for our number and we exchanged information and went back and taught her a few days following. Steve was not so interested at first but slowly but surely he started sitting in on the lessons and eventually we started teaching them together. When we invited them to be baptized they Botha accepted and Steve actually told us that a few days before we had contacted Lisa that first day, he said that he had been praying that God would help them to find the right church to raise their family in...and then we showed up :) Lisa and Steve have told us a few times now that they are so grateful and that they are so happy that we found them when we did. But I know it wasn't us, it was the Lords hand in everything. They will be baptized in the coming months after baby Eli is born. But I can't wait to see them be sealed as and eternal family one day the lord has blessed me greatly here in this area. With people I have taught and members of the ward who have helped me in so many ways to prepare for my eternal family one day. 

Just to share something that I learned in my studies this morning quickly...first of all I have to be honest I was completely surprised at how many people have come up to me  in the last few days to tell me how well they think I've done here. I have come to love these people so much but I honestly did not realize the love that they reciprocated to the missionaries. But I am grateful for those who have thought so highly of me when I didn't know it. Especially when I have never thought those things of myself before. But I am grateful for the potential that people seem to think I have. But yesterday in church I shared a verse in Alma 26 about being made and instrument in the hands of the Lord. This morning I was continuing in reading Alma 26. And for some reason as I was reading those verses I thought of my art class in high school. Where we experimented some times with a potters wheel. And I remembered how when I was molding and shaping the clay I would often use "instruments" or "tools" to carve a pretty design into the clay. As I thought I this analogy of the Potters Clay I thought of how it can apply to us as missionaries and disciples of Christ. When a potter is molding and shaping a piece of clay he has a vision for it. He is shaping it into something beautiful, into something he wants it to be. And often times he may use certain tools or instruments in order to help him fulfill the purpose he has for it. Some instruments are meant for a specific purpose than other but nonetheless they are all important and helpful in the process. But when using them, the tools don't have a mind of their own and arent going every which way doing whatever THEY want. Instead, they are still. They are submissive. They go whichever way the potter wants them to in order to help him fulfill the work he is doing. And I thought about how that may apply to us as missionaries. No I don't want to leave this area. There is so much happening and I have sacrificed so much in behalf of this area and I love these people so much. If it were my choice I would choose to stay. But I am merely the instrument. So I'll go where ever and do whatever the Master wants me to go and do. Because this is His work. Not mine. I am the instrument. He is the potter. And I hope and pray that I can be used in His hands to help Him fulfill His righteous purposes here in this mission and in my next area. 

I want everyone to know that this gospel is true. It is all true. I testify of it with all that I have and am. There is nothing in this world that is worth more than enjoying the fullest blessings of the gospel. 

Love you all!! Until next week! 

~Sister Amy Callaway~

And a few pictures!! Don't mind how terrible I look in some of them!!! But I wanted to send pictures of all 6 of our investigators who will be baptized soon!! And I just love them all! The first is Julianna and I she is already a member. The second is Ally and Matt (from Georgia) the third is Lisa and Steve. And the fourth is Augustine and Priscilia!