One year!!!

Hello everyone!!

Well sorry this email might be kinda short but we went to philly today so that took up a good chunk of our day....... First I have to wish dad a Happy Birthday!! Love you daddy! I hope you have the best day ever! By birthday present to you is being on my mission for one whole year!! Haha....but oh. My. Gosh.....one year?...ONE. YEAR???.......I literally cannot believe I have been on my mission for one. whole. year...I remember everything like it was yesterday. I remember pulling up to the MTC just crying. Tears of joy because I was excited to go on this journey of serving the Lord, but also tears because of my feelings of uneasiness not entirely knowing what lie ahead of me. And worrying about what I was leaving behind to go. Realizing that I wasn't going to see my family for 18 whole months and that just scared me. I didn't think I would be able to do it. I remember just balling as I hugged my mom, dad, and baby sister goodbye and then I grabbed my stuff and turned around and walked away. I can honestly say that those were the hardest steps I've ever taken. I didn't feel good enough or strong enough to do this for my Savior but I went willingly, of my own choice. But then I also remember walking through the doors of the MTC and them placing my name tag right over my heart and then what was once tears of what felt like sorrow turned to joy and smiles as I felt the mantle of the calling that I now held become a part of me. I just can't believe it's been a year. 

As I have been coming up on my year mark I have been thinking a lot lately of how I don't feel like 18 months is nearly enough time to learn how to be a missionary lol. I really don't. I would love to have more time and to learn more. But I also have been thinking about this talk given in conference a while back called "Your Four Minutes." He talks about how we have in this earth life 4 minutes to prove ourselves...And I've thought about it this way...so say that you measure your life on earth by a time span of 100 years. And you break it into fourths which each equal a minute. So 25 years would be 1 minute. Then 50 years would be 2 minutes. 75 years-3 minutes. And 100 years-4 minutes. So right now at my age I'm not even 1 full minute in according to the scale of eternity. And a mission, 18 months is only a few seconds of those four minutes. My pint is is that this earth life is so short. A mission is so short. But it is the most rewarding thing. I started my mission looking at these 18 months ahead of me not knowing how exactly I was going to do this but now, I realize how fast it has gone and I just want to put time on hold for s little while so that I can extend my mission or something lol. 

It reminds me of President Nelson when he said,

"That is why we respond to our own calls from the Lord. When we comprehend His voluntary Atonenent, any sense of sacrifice on our part becomes completely overshadowed by a profound sense of gratitude for the privilege of serving Him."

Sorry this is short!! I love you all! The gospel is true! Learn it! Live it! Share it! 

~Sister Amy Callaway~

We went to independence hall today!! Ugh it was beautiful!! 

i don't know how to title this one...

Hello loved ones!! 

So this week was great!!  Had transfers on Tuesday morning and sister Veater and I knew that we would be getting another sister in place of Sister Lefevre. And our new companion is Sister Kartchner! She is from Tucson Arizona and has been on her mission for about 14 months now. And the funny thing is is that she and Sister Veater have already been companions once before lol. But we are having fun being in a trio again! This is my third trio so far so I'm convinced I might just be in trios for most of my mission haha. But considering Sister Veater goes home this transfer we will see. 

So last week after transfers we got Sister Kartchner and came back to our tiny little apartment that is not fit for a trio...got her stuff inside ate, lunch and then we left immediately to go out and do some work! So we were walking around in Upper Darby trying to contact some potential investigators and we passed a few people who were getting or of their car and Sister K started talking told them that we wanted to share a message with them about Christ and asked if we could come back sometime...it was all very straightforward but then I was like "can we come in and share it with you now??" They said "sure" and it invited us in...and as we went it we found their entire family there also. It was a big family and we invited them all to listen to our message. They told us they are from Africa and they had met missionaries over there before. We shared with them the new Christmas video and they loved it. The spirit was SO strong! We asked to come again and teach them and they accepted! We are exited to teach them about The Restoration!! It's part of my personal purpose as a missionary to find families. So I was super happy :) I'll keep you posted on them! 

Then later this week we were out trying to contact some more people when this woman was walking past us and we started talking to her and the first thing she says to us is "I don't speak English..." But we got her to 'understand' that we wanted to show her a video and then she agreed to watch it. Then after the video she starts telling us about some of her struggles she has had in her life but now how a God has helped her overcome them...and all in perfect English too! :) haha it was a miracle, the Lord obviously blessed her with the gift of tongues in that moment to speak to us in English...haha I just thought that was so funny. 

 Honestly I can't really remember the rest of this week for some reason im trying to think back but... it's just not happening right now haha. But I do want to share something that I learned from my studies this week that I love so much and wanted to share! It was from this last general conference and it says this talking about loving others as the Lord does himself and it all basically sums up everything I've been learning...

"Only when we see through Heavenly Father’s eyes can we be filled with “the pure love of Christ.” Every day we should plead with God for this love. Mormon admonished, “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ.”

With all my heart I want to be a true follower of Jesus Christ. I love Him. I adore Him. I witness of His living reality. I witness that He is the Anointed One, the Messiah. I am a witness of His incomparable mercy, compassion, and love. I add my testimony to that of the Apostles who, in the year 2000, stated “that Jesus is the Living Christ, the immortal Son of God. … He is the light, the life, and the hope of the world.”

I testify that on a day in 1820 in a grove in upstate New York, the risen Lord appeared, along with God, our Heavenly Father, to the Prophet Joseph Smith, just as Joseph Smith said They did. Priesthood keys are on earth today to enable saving and exalting ordinances. I know it. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Remember, the gospel is true. It's all true. 

Love you all!! I love this gospel so so much! 

Until next week! 

~Sister Amy Callaway~

Bishops wife Sister Hernandez! We spend every pday at her house! I love them they are so awesome! Philly skyline, and some minion blow up thingy that I thought was awesome! 

:)

Hello my loved ones!!

Sorry if this ones short but my iPad is about to die...but Thanks everyone for the happy birthday wishes!! I had a great birthday! But New Years in the city is CRAY-Z. Thankfully we weren't anywhere near the crazy stuff going on but the Elders in our ward serve in the middle of West Philly. And I can honestly say I have never seen such long lines in front of the Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores before...yikes! All was well and we had a good New Years. 

Oh and mom thanks for all of your New Years/birthday stuff it was fun...however I didn't open any of it until Friday I didn't know some of it was meant to be opened on New Years Eve...but we hung them up that morning!! Haha so thank you mom and everyone I loved it all :) we just had weekly planning most of the day though and then we had an awesome lesson with a man named Christopher who we met at a car repair shop. We had a great lesson with him and is very interested and came to church yesterday too!! 

Also we got transfer calls on Friday and Sister Lefevre is getting transferred but we are still going to be in a trio. And this is also sister Veaters last transfer before she goes home. So we will see how this transfer goes! I'm excited though. 

Oh and also we had a baptism yesterday!! It was awesome!! And we are so excited for sister Baker she has worked really hard for this. 

I'm sorry this email is kind of lame but my iPad is literally about to die and I don't have a charger but quickly I wanted to share this quote that I liked from a talk by Pres. Eyring...

"But the test a loving God has set before us is not to see if we can endure difficulty. It is to see if we can endure it well. We pass the test by showing that we remembered Him and the commandments He gave us. And to endure well is to keep those commandments whatever the opposition, whatever the temptation, and whatever the tumult around us. We have that clear understanding because the restored gospel makes the plan of happiness so plain."

I'm grateful for trials and tribulations that a loving God allows us to have. Because they are often the very things that bring us closer to Him. 

I know this gospel is true. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. Joseph Smith was a prophet. I know that my savior lives. 

Love you all! 

Until next week! 

~Sister Amy Callaway~

Pictures!! Also Moroni went on top of the temple this week!!

Best. Christmas. Ever.

Hello my loved ones!!

Okay so this week I had the Best. Christmas. Ever...so memorable and so fun!! The best Christmas/Birthday present I received was being able to talk to my family!! I love and miss you all so much you don't even know!! It was so good to see your beautiful faces :) 

Well this last week was pretty great. We had our Christmas conference on Christmas Eve and we watched Ephriams Rescue.  And I just love that movie!! Mostly because I swear I felt the spirit all throughout the entire movie. I love how it demonstrates what a worthy and humble priesthood holder can do. It inspired me to think about what the early saints of the church gave up, and sacrificed for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because they knew for themselves that it is true. I pondered upon that and then thought, "if they were willing to sacrifice everything for the gospel, then I should be willing to do the same." I learned an important lesson just from watching that movie. Then after the movie we had an awesome talent show. We sang as a district and that was fun. Then after that we got all of our Christmas gifts and left as soon as we could. 

But a Christmas miracle happened along the way after the conference. The vehicle coordinator told us to go get some oil to put in our car. So we stopped at a auto shop got some oil and the people who were helping us asked us who we were. So we started talking to them about who we are and what we do. We talked to all of them and quickly gave them each a pass along card and invited them to go and watch the video and then we left because we had to get to Bishops house for dinner. Well after dinner with Bishop and few other families we left and got a call from one of the men telling us that he watched the video and that he wanted to learn more!! We are teaching him this Friday and we are so excited!!

Then Christmas morning we got up and exercised then we opened presents and after doing that we studied and then we made some cookies to pass out throughout the day and I used the wrapping paper from the Christmas gifts that I got to wrap up some copies of The Book of Mormon to pass out to people. But when we left the apartment there was seriously no one outside....and those who we did occasionally find outside were Jewish and said they weren't interested...but that's okay! Because it was still the best Christmas ever!! Then we had dinner with our Relief Society President and her sweet family and then I got to Skype with my own family!! It was seriously the best Christmas ever!! Because I am a missionary. That's why! We had a good two days following Christmas and the best news...WE ARE HAVING A BAPTISM THIS WEEKEND!! We are so excited!  I will tell you more about Sister Baker soon. But I'm runni out of time...

And quickly I just wanted to share something from my studies this week that I loved...it is from this months ensign and it is an article by Elder Christofferson called Be At Peace. And in it he says this...

"With all of that to come, though, I think it’s appropriate this time of year to just think about that baby in the manger. Don’t be too overwhelmed or occupied with what is to come; just think about that little baby. Take a quiet, peaceful moment to ponder the beginning of His life--the culmination of heavenly prophecy but the earthly beginning for Him. Take time to relax, be at peace, and see this little child in your mind. Do not be too concerned or overwhelmed with what is coming in His life or in yours. Instead, take a peaceful moment to contemplate perhaps the most serene moment in the history of the world--when all of heaven rejoiced with the message “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” (Luke 2:14)."

And I loved that. When I read it I felt as though Heavenly Father was telling me to just think about the Savior just focus on Him and not to worry about EVERYTHING that would be placed on His shoulders when he grew up. I thought about Mary too. When Elder Christofferson says the just think about the baby in the manger to me he is saying just enjoy the moment. Right here and right now. Enjoy where you are at. And how far you have come. I find that I myself often worry about the future. And I think about Mary that if she had only completely understood the magnitude of everything that her baby boy was going to have to do, she probably would worry about the future. As a mother would. But in Luke 2:19 it says that she "kept all these things and pondered them in her heart." I believe that she just thought about her little baby in that manger and just enjoyed the miracle of his birth and the privilege she had to be the mother of the Son of God. I think that that is something we can all apply to our lives in some way or another. I love this gospel more than anything and I know that it is true, and that Jesus Christ has come. That He lives. And that He is coming again. 

Love you!! Talk to you next year

~Sister Amy Callaway~

Sister Asi and I because she goes home next week :( and pictures on Christmas Day! Also our Christmas tree that sister Lefevres mom sent us! :)

Merry CHRISTmas :)

Merry Christmas everyone!!

I am so excited for this week! President has really been asking us to share the new Christmas video that the church put out as much as possible. And also there's kind of a little..."competition" going on in the mission with sharing the video. Well, I want to be careful how I use the word 'competition' because the Missionary handbook says that there should be no "competitions" as to avoid getting too competitive. But anywho, the APs promised that whichever zone shares it the most will get some sort of prize haha. But regardless of the prize that's obviously not why we are sharing it. So Sister Levefre and Sister Veater and I have made it a goal to share the video 100 times this week. And I believe that we can do it. It's definitely more than possible. And I know that by exercising out faith in this way that we will see miracles come from it. 

Also sorry if this email is kind of short this week. But I know people are busy with Christmas and such so I hope whoever takes the time to read this email will find that it will help them to focus on the whole purpose of why we celebrate Christmas. So I hope I'll make it worth your while to read. 

I am so grateful for this Christmas season. This is my first Christmas on my mission and it will be my only Christmas on my mission and I am so excited to celebrate this wonderful holiday as a full time servant of the Lord. And so I am sure that you have all seen the new Christmas videos that the church out out called #ASaviorIsBorn. And at the end of the video it says'

"More than 2000 years ago God sent Jesus Christ, our Savior." And then it invites us to "Discover why." Why did Jesus Christ come? To perform the Atonement. And there have been a few times that we have shared this video with people and they tell me "oh, I already know why Jesus came." But I am a living witness that one can, not only discover it once, but then rediscover and then rediscover and then discover all over again the beauty and majesty of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We must continually strive to understand the Atonement more and more. You don't ever just stop learning about it. President Uchtdorf said;

"...we must never lose our sense of awe and profound gratitude for the eternal sacrifice of the Son of God. The Savior’s Atonement cannot become commonplace in our teaching, in our conversation, or in our hearts. It is sacred and holy..."(President Uchtdorf: The Gift of Grace April 2015)

Elder Holland stated it perfectly when he said;

"Maybe the purchasing and the making and the wrapping and the decorating should be separated, if only slightly, from the more quiet, personal moments when we consider the meaning of the Baby (and his birth) who prompts the giving of such gifts. 

I, like you, need to remember the very plain scene, even the poverty, of a night devoid of tinsel or wrapping or goods of this world. Only when we see that single, sacred, unadorned object of our devotion—the Babe of Bethlehem—will we know why the giving of gifts is so appropriate." 

So what makes Christmas so exciting? The fact that we celebrate that FINALLY the Savior of the World had been born into mortality. The One whom prophets had testified would come to save men from their sins and sorrows, the One who had been prophesied of since the beginning of the world. FINALLY this precious little baby came into the world to eventually grow up and do what only He could do--that is--preform the Atonement. 

WE SHOULD NEVER FORGET, THAT THE ENTIRE PURPOSE FOR CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS IS BECAUSE JESUS CHRIST CAME INTO THE WORLD TO EVENTUALLY ONE DAY PERFORM THE ATONEMENT AND TO SAVE US ALL. 

It wasn't until yesterday that I watched the video for like the hundredth time or so, that I listened to the words that were quoted from Isaiah and Luke. And the part in the video where it says 

"For unto you, is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior which is Christ the Lord."

And when I heard that 'For unto you.' Part, I felt as though those little children were talking directly to me. The video continues by saying, 

"...Fear not: for, I bring you good tidings of great joy,...

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." (Luke 210-11)

For unto me, a Savior was born. It was for me that He came. It was for me that He suffered. It was for me that He died. And so it was for you too. 

The reason why we celebrate Christmas is because He finally came to save us. Our Savior had finally come and would eventually grow up and perform the Atonement for us. I thank my merciful and loving Heavenly Father for loving me enough to send Him for me. And for you. And for all of us. 

Please, please, if there is one thing I could ask for this Christmas it would be for anyone, everyone, to remember Him and what He did. And to give back to him the gift of obedience to His commandments. After all that is all He asks of us, in exchange for Eternal Life with Him. 

"But first and forever there was just a little family, without toys or trees or tinsel. With a baby--that’s how Christmas began."

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before!

Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store.

Maybe Christmas … perhaps … means a little bit more!”

I love this gospel. I love my Savior. And I love my Heavenly Father. This gospel is true.

Love you all!! Merry CHRISTmas!!

Until next week! 

~Sister Amy Callaway~

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Hello everyone!! 

I hope you are all doing well and had a good week! Because w sure did here in Philly! 
We had a good week of finding new people and sharing the video called A Savior Is Born with everyone! And we have seen miracles come from using it! I invite you all to do the same and to share those videos with your loved ones! Oh also fun fact, it has been 70 degrees here the last few days!! Like what the heck?? Where is winter?? Anywho...

From sharing the video we found a lot of new potential investigators. And we also went on exchanges this week. And we had a cold experience while we were on exchanges. So after doing some accountability with Sister Foster we left to go an try and contact a referral that we had received for  copy of The Book of Mormon. Well the address that was given doesn't even exist and so we were kings bummed about that but then Sister Foster said "well we were sent here for a reason!" So we walked up and down the street and then over the bridge and still, nothing. There was no one on the street for some reason. But as I looked back up at the top of the bridge I saw a man walked toward us and figured, "well there's our reason!" So we started walking toward and stopped and talked with him! He said his name was Jeff and that he was on his way to the convenient store to buy some candy or something because he was low on sugar because of his diabetes. So i first quickly reached in my bag and offered him the only thing I could find In there which was a small Life Saver candy. He looked very weak and so I gave it to him hoping that would be able to hold him off even just a little for so that hopefully we could share the video with him. And as we did he loved the video and it was something that he really needed at the time because he told us that he wants to have faith in Christ. He needs something greater to hold onto because he has lost almost everything right now. He has lost a lot, including family. And so we asked him if he would be willing to meet with us and be able to strengthen his faith in Christ by learning about his teachings and life. Jeff invited us to come back and teach him more so we will be seeing him soon! It was a miracle! I was so grateful for the opportunity to meet him and help him know in that moment that God loves him and is mindful of him. 

Also we had our ward Christmas party this week and we sang at it!! Ugh! Talk about scary! But we sang "Do You Have Room For the Savior" and boy were we nervous haha. We practiced a little bit throughout the week and it all turned out well. It was really fun too. 

And then yesterday we all gave talks in sacrament meeting! Last week on Tuesday a member of the bishopric called us and we missed his call on accident. But when I looked at the phone again in the car and who it was sister Veater said "oh no, you know what that means..." Haha. So I called him back and sure enough he asked us each to speak! Our topic was The Atonement. And he asked us to pick a hymn from the hymn book to use as the basis of our talk. And yesterday at church I was the second to speak and I accidentally took up most of the time!! I gave sister Veater hardly any time to speak! But she said that was okay she still did great. But I honestly feel like this talk was more for me this week than anyone else. I had been studying for my talk ever single day this week. And with all that I have learned about the Atonement over the course of this week and over the course of my mission, my thoughts and feeling of the savior and His atonement cannot be adequately expressed in words. Sometime I feel like Ammon when he said "I cannot say the smallest part which I feel." (Alma 26:16) but this week I have become so much closer to Him. As I have tried to study and learn more about what He did and more importantly WHY He did it. The hymn that I chose for my talk was hymn number 185 called Reverently and Meekly Now. And I also chose a talk from a Elder Holland called He Loved Them Unto the End. And in it Elder a Holland highlights a point that I had never really thought about before. The fact that the Savior had such perfect love for us, and because he possessed that charity, and we learn from the scriptures that "charity never faileth...[and that] all [other] things must fail." But because charity never faileth, that means that it never failed the savior either. I think we have to remember that even the savior said "oh my father if it be possible, let this cup pass from me." Meaning even the savior asked if there wasn't another way, even the savior asked if He really had to follow through with this...but because He had such perfect love for each and everyone of us He said "Not my will but thine be done." That charity, the pure love He has did not fail Him in that moment. In fact it was the one and only thing that really saw him through, to the end. Sometimes I think we forget what an extreme act of pure love the Atonement of Jesus Christ really was. 
And I also think of it this way, the Savior loved every person enough to suffer and die for them. And He willingly went through that pain, so that we would all have a HOPE of returning to live with God again. But how do you think He felt and does feel have willingly taken upon Himself all of that pain and suffering for each and every person and knowing that most of them won't even accept and use His gift. How perfectly He has loved us, and we must love Him too for what He has done for us. Elder Holland said in His talk:

His disciples, understandably, were weary (or in other words: tired) and soon fell asleep. What of Christ’s sleep? What of his fatigue? What rest or slumber will sustain him through such an agonizing ordeal? That is simply not his concern here, nor does it ever seem to be. He will endure. He will triumph. He will not falter nor fail us." 

Because of His perfect and enduring love for us. I stand by Elder Holland when he said,

"I testify that there is one thing which will never, ever fail us. One thing alone will stand the test of all time, of all tribulation, all trouble, and all transgression. One thing only never faileth--and that is the pure love of Christ...Only the pure love of Christ will see us through." 

For surely brothers and sisters that pure love is what saw Christ through, to the end. His pure love never fails us. Not now. Not ever. Not ever. 

The Savior said, "Behold the wounds which pierced my side, and also the prints of the nails in my hands and feet; be faithful, keep my commandments, and ye shall inherit the kingdom of heaven. Amen." To me when I read this verse i think of the Savior saying, "this is what I did for you. Please, please do this for me." In return for the in indescribable gift that he has given us, all He requires of us is to keep His commandments.

The fourth verse of the song reads...

1. At the throne I intercede;

For thee ever do I plead.
I have loved thee as thy friend,
With a love that cannot end.
Be obedient, I implore,
Prayerful, watchful evermore,
And be constant unto me,
That thy Savior I may be."

My knowledge and testimony of the Atonement of Jesus Christ is one of the most priceless gifts that I possess. I invite you all this Christmas season and through out the coming year, and for the rest of your lives to discover more of why. And to continue learning all you can of the Savior and His atonement. I promise you that as you make an effort to strengthen your testimony of the Savior and His atonement will change your life if you let it. I testify of the truth of this gospel with all my heart. It's true. And I invite you all to find it out for yourselves if you haven't already. And if you have then I invite you to keep discovering the gift.

Love you all!!
Until next week! 
~Sister Amy Callaway~
Picture of us singing at the Christmas party! And then pictures from exchanges, and a cool picture from the Christmas party we took! 

#P4

Hello loved ones!!  

Okay so this week seriously just blew right by I kind of don't even remember what we did this week haha. But I'll do my best to recount what happened this week because it was a good one. 
Oh well first of all before I forget...I totally met someone here who knows John McCreedy! And the best part is, he's all the way from Jamaica! His name is Raman Roof and he is from Kingston and we visit his sister throughout the week. And he was here visiting her a few weeks ago. So I knew it was a long shot but I asked him if he knew and Elder McCreedy who served in Jamaica a few years ago...not expecting the answer I got he said "Yeah I know him! Elder McCreedy! Big, really really really tall, white guy right??" Haha and I said "yep that's John!" I thought it was so funny that I met someone all the way from Jamaica, in Philadelphia who knows John McCreedy haha it was awesome. 
Anywho, sister Veater ad I are still trying to get to know the area but we are loving it and loving the people. So one cool experience we had this week was when we had a lesson with one of the recent converts named Amos. Amos is from Liberia and he was baptized in October. He is such a faithful member and has such a strong testimony. And he understands the doctrines of the gospel very well. Well he has a friend living with him right now whose name is Phillip. And Phillip sat in and was pretty intrigued by what we were teaching Amos and so he started asking a lot of questions. And before we even got to start answering his questions Amos started answering them! It was such an amazing experience to hear Amos, this newly joined member of the church, bear his testimony to his friend of the things he had come to know are true. He was bearing testimony of The Book of Mormon and of Joseph Smith and I was just all smile I couldn't help but feel so happy by what I was hearing this new convert say to his friend. It was such a a amazing experience. 
Then yesterday we had one of our investigators who will be baptized this month come to church. And after church we had a lesson with her and she is quite on track to be baptized but she is struggling with overcoming some Word of Wisdom issues. And yesterday we had a member come with us and his name is Brother Holland. And then suddenly my two companions and I all had the same thought to ask her if she would like a priesthood blessing and right then and there she accepted and a brother holland was able to give her a blessing. The spirit was so strong!! It was such Ana making experience! She has been progressing quite well and I,l keep you posted on her progress! 
Something I learned this morning in my studies real quick: 
One of my favorite
There is a scripture that I love in 1 Nephi is in chapter 7 verse 17 where Nephi has just
been bound with cords by his brothers and he prays to the lord and
says "O Lord, according to my faith which is in thee, wilt thou
deliver
me from the hands of my brethren; yea, even give me strength that I
may burst these bands with which I am bound” and it has always
occurred to me that Nephi prayed to the Lord for the strength to
overcome this trial he was facing...rather than praying for the lord
to just take it from him. Elder Bednar puts it better than I do...

"Do you know what I likely would have prayed for if I had been tied up
by my brothers? “Please get me out of this mess NOW!” It is especially
interesting to me that Nephi did not pray to have his circumstances
changed. Rather, he prayed for the strength to change his
circumstances.

And I believe he prayed in this manner precisely because he knew,
understood, and had experienced the enabling power of the Atonement.
I do not think the bands with which Nephi was bound just magically
fell from his hands and wrists. Rather, I suspect he was blessed with
both persistence and personal strength beyond his natural capacity,
that he then “in the strength of the Lord” (Mosiah 9:17) worked and
twisted and tugged on the cords, and ultimately and literally was
enabled to break the bands.

The implication of this episode for each of us is straightforward. As
you and I come to understand and employ the enabling power of the
Atonement in our personal lives, we will pray and seek for strength to
change our circumstances rather than praying for our circumstances to
be changed. We will become agents who act rather
than objects that are acted upon (see 2 Nephi 2:14)."

I loved this. And I have learned personally that for myself the lord will hardly ever remove the mountains in front of us but he will always help us climb them. I know this gospel is true and I love it with all that I have and am! And I will always do my absolute best to stay true to the gospel! 
Love you all! 
Until next week!!
Love always 
{Sister Amy Callaway}

P.s. The really tall guy is 6"9 and it's pretty funny when this little 4"11 sister is standing next to him...ill send pictures some time! Love you all! 

Guess where i'm at?!

Hey there everyone!! 

I hope you all had a happy thanksgiving!! Part of me kind of thought that having transfers right before the holidays was a little bit cruel haha after not knowing where I was going to spend thanksgiving. But it was all for the best and I love my new area! I am now serving right in Philadelphia!!! How crazy is that?? Im in the Philly 4th Ward. And our church building is right in the middle of the city...it's nuts... But it's fun. It's different to hear the city right outside when you're sitting in church haha. But I'm so excited to be here. As much as I miss Medford and all of the wonderful people that came to love so much I am excited to be here in Philly. 

Oh and, fun fact (court will love this) I pass by Will Smith's high school everyday!! Haha. I started to make up a missionary appropriate rap to the theme song of Fresh Prince of Bel Air lol. And since I'm serving in West Philly we sing "West Philadelphia called to serve!" (To the theme of fresh prince) Every time we pass by haha. I'll sing the rest of the rap someday. Or maybe I'll have Hay do it because she's better at that kind of stuff than I am. 

Anywho, we had a good thanksgiving too. We had 4 appointments that we were invited to and oh my goodness...I could not eat anything else by the second appointment...and the last two were difficult but I am grateful for everything the members did to help us have a good thanksgiving. I have far too much to be grateful for and my heart was overwhelmed with gratitude to my Heavenly Father for so many things. Even though I am away from my family I think that this was by far one of the best thanksgivings I've ever had. And I had my first ever African thanksgiving! There are a lot of people here from Liberia and I just love them! There are such great people here in our area. 

OH! And I'm in a trio again!! Total surprise I know! But I already love my two companions! We have already had lots of fun together and I just love them already! They are great sisters. The first is Sister Lefevre (luh-fever) and Sister Veater. Sister Lefevre is from southern Utah near St. George, a little tiny town called Tropic. She is so funny and I just love her! She has been out for a total of 8 1/2 months. We served around each other in New Jersey so we are excited to be companions. And she is going on her fourth transfer here in Philly. And Sister Veater is from San Diego area. And she has been out for a little over 16 months. And the last few days have been fun but a little overwhelming...i forgot, after being in Medford for so long, what it was like to come into a new area. But it has been full of adventures already! 

We a few investigators and I haven't met all of them yet so this week was a little slower in terms of teaching but it will pick up for sure! Sorry I don't have very much this week but at least you know where I am now :) and I'm sure I'll have some good stories to tell by next week!! I know the gospel is true and I love it with everything that I am. I testify of its truthfulness and the peace and joy it brings into the lives of those who make the effort to live. But I also know that we cannot ever afford to stop making that effort to live the gospel. I know that as we do so we will live to see the promised blessings of the lord come to pass. 

I'd also like to share something brief that I've been thinking about this week. I have met a lot of people out here who are members or who are investigating the church and for some reason or another may choose to stop their spiritual progress in the gospel because of a personal issue or opinion that they have about certain revelations or certain commandments. And some have even forsaken their membership in the church over these matters or even forsaken the opportunity they have to become a member of the church. Either way they have entirely stopped their spiritual progress over one bump in the road that they seem to feel like they'll never get over. And the thing I have learned that I'd like to share is this: 

We may not ever fully understand or comprehend in the present moment just "why" the Lord reveals certain things or gives us certain commandments to follow. I'm not saying that we have to follow blindly. The lord wants us to ask questions and to inquire when we have worries or concerns. He wants us to turn to him and find out for ourselves. Not to just immediately give up when any hint of uncertainty arises. But I finally realize what all of these talks about "jumping ship when things get hard" are talking about. Just because we don't understand the "why" of everything doesn't mean that we should just throw in the towel and give up on all the rest of what we have learned for ourselves to be true. 

I testify that even if we don't know right now the "why" of all God has commanded us to do, as we stay the course and keep his commandments we will one day look back and understand "why" he asked us to do that. With faith comes trials of faith. And I pray that we will all continue to do the things the lord has commanded so that we may be able to hold onto our faith.

Love you all!! Until next week! 
{Sister Amy Callaway}

Oh and p.s. If anyone wants to snail mail me my address is:
28 Llanfair Rd. Apt. 4B Ardmore, Pa 19003

Sister Lefevre, Sister Veater and I! And some members from my Medford that I miss and love!