Bugs are gross. Bugs in the south are even more gross. There are
so many bugs I didn't know existed. That's not ok with me. Well now I
have to share my weekly bug story. So yesterday I was getting into the
shower and what do I see in the bathtub? A NASTY green centipede
thingy. They can run super fast too! Also it pooped in our tub! So
naturally we poured bleach on it and let it die and then sucked it up
with our vacuum and then just in case it wasn't dead we taped the hose
on the vacuum so it couldn't crawl out and kill us in the night. So
that was gross.
    Another fun fact about yesterday there was a CRAZY storm. The rain
was so crazy that it looked white and it was knocking trees over and
there was crazy thunder and lightning too! Our power was knocked out
too so we lit candles and such. It rains pretty much everyday here.
That's a thing. Not a good thing but a thing.
    On Friday we got our iPads!!!!!!! YAY! They are such amazing tools
and so fun. Also I can look at my email everyday! So I guess if you
want you can email me every single day ☺️. I can't respond until
Monday but hey that shouldn't stop you:)
    In our zone meeting on Friday President Griffin talked about the
story of Peter walking on the water to the Savior (Matthew 14:24-32).
He read the story and stopped every few verses and discussed it. At
the end he told us that most people focus on sinking Peter and that we
all think that he should have had more faith. President told us that
instead of focusing on sinking Peter we should focus on rising Peter.
Even though Peters faith wavered, he did exactly what he should do,
call out to our savior and say "save me." Another part I loved was
when the Savior walked with Peter back to the boat. The storm was
still going on but the Savior was right there next to him all the way.
The Lord is on our side. Call out to him in your "storms" and he will
walk with you until you get back to the boat. I know that to be true
and I am glad to have this gospel in my life.
    Thank you for all the support and love! I love you all! Have a great week!

    Sister Draney

Hello all!

    Story time! This week we went to one of our investigators houses for a lesson. We talked about the woman at the well and the gospel of Jesus Christ. The lesson went super well! In fact it went so well that we set a baptismal date with her! July 11! Woot Woot! Sister McDermott and I were so excited! The missionaries have been working with Brenda for about six months and she is just now accepting and learning! It is awesome to see people working hard to change their lives to become closer to Heavenly Father. She is a very sweet lady and I can't wait to see what happens next!
   

    In district meeting two weeks ago one of the sisters said something that I love and completely agree with:

     "My mission isn't just the best thing IN my life, its the best thing FOR my life."

                                                                                     -Sister McNeil

How true that statement is! It is the best thing in my life at this moment and it will be the best thing for my life but also for the life of my future family.

In the same district meeting President Griffin talked to us a little bit. He told us that Satans best weapon against us is self defeat.  When we are down on ourselves he wins. That was a great reminder to me that even though things get tough I need to keep pushing forward and not let Satan win. Sister Griffin also shared a few words. She was talking to us about how Heavenly Father has a plan for us. He didn't create the plan to make us fail or to only have some of us return to Him. He wants us all to return to him. He sent us here to be tried and tested. We already know who the victor will be. Lets all play for the winning team.

    Always remember where you came from and where you will return to. Do your best and God will do the rest.

    Thank you for all your support and love! I appreciate it!

Love you all!

Love,

Sister Draney

This week we had a mission conference. It was really fun to see Elder Brown from the MTC and to share stories and to catch up. I didn't get the chance to talk to any of the other missionaries from the MTC.
 Elder Zwick of the seventy came and spoke to us this mission conference! It was amazing! One of my favorite parts was a question he asked all of us missionaries: CAN YOU BE TRUSTED? That question has been on my mind all week long and it has helped keep me focused and working hard. I definitely want the Lord to trust me to do this work that I have been called to do.
 Brother Hemmingway was also there to talk to us about our ipads that we will be getting later this month! I am so excited to have another tool to use in furthering and hastening the work. Bro H. told us to always remember that the ipads aren't the reason the work is hastening but to remember that they are just a tool. Just like a pen or pencil is a tool in writing, it doesn't actually do the writing but it helps us to accomplish our goal.

 We are just here doing the work of the Lord!

Thank you for all the prayers for the missionaries! It really helps us out a lot! Remember to keep Elder L. Tom Perry's family in your prayers. It is always sad to hear of the passing away of a great general authority but it brings comforting having the knowledge that we have of life after death.
Sorry for the short Email this week but not too much to report on! Love you all! Have a great week!

This week was so awesome!

At the beginning of the week we went to teach Brenda M. She is an investigator that has been having an issue believing that Joseph Smith saw Jesus Christ AND God. She believed that no man could see God. Going into the lesson, Sister McDermott and I were kinda not wanting to be there because she is so hard to teach. Knowing that giving up on her wouldnt help anything, I decided to say a prayer in my heart that I would know how to teach her and help her to understand what we were teaching. I asked Heavenly Father if he would use me as a tool so that Brenda would know for herself the truth that we had given her. She was able to figure it out for herself and overcome that problem that was holding her back from progressing. We were able to help her understand that she was interpreting the scriptures wrong by asking inspired questions. When she finally understood it was the best moment! It made my whole day! I was so happy for her!! She has had this issue for almost 6 months! What an incredible feeling it is to help someone come closer to Christ and learn more about the gospel! Its the best calling ever!

On Tuesday Sis McDermott and I built a fort in our living room!! It was awesome! We were having a competition with the elders to see who could build the best fort. Then on Thursday we went to district meeting and the elders didnt even build one! But ours would have won anyways:) We even slept in it two nights! haha!

Ok so anyone that knows me knows that I LOVE pop tarts. So we went to the store to get another case of water and thats all we were planning on getting....until I saw the pop tarts! We got two boxes of them and they were both gone in 3 days....THEY WERE SOOOO GOOD! We also got a watermelon at the store. I told Sis McDermott that we should just get a small one but she insisted that we get a big one... so we did! We are taking it to Courtneys house today and hopefully we will be able to eat it all!

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Saturday afternoon.... We were at home eating lunch and Sis McDermott was in the bathroom. All of the sudden I hear the all to familiar call of "Sister Draney! Draney! Draney!! Come here! Gross!!" So I go see what is wrong and grab my broom cause when she calls me like that it usually means there is a bug I need to kill. I get into the bathroom and there is a slug on the floor! Gross! How the heck does a slug get into our apartment!? It was gross and Sis McDermott was freaking out and hiding behind the fridge while I took the slug outside. It was quite entertaining!

Remember how I said we ate two boxes of pop tarts in three days? Yeah so Sis McDermott designated the highest cupboard as the unhealthy cupboard. We put the most unhealthy food we have up there so as Sis McDermott says... We have to get on our tip toes to get what we want and in doing so burn the calroies before we eat unhealthy stuff! Ha its great!

Mothers day was the best! Skyping everyone was so fun! Also talking to Katelyn was my favorite part! Its crazy to think that we are both missionaries! I love it!

It was a great week! I hope y'all had a great week as well! Love you all!

Omni 1:26 Read it. Live it. Love it.

#TKMisthebestmissionoutthere #missionaryswag

 The slug:)

 1/2 birthday cake

 inside "the fort"

 Capt'n Crunch:)

First of all let me start out by saying Happy Belated Birthday to dad and Paige! I hope both of you had a great day! 

This week has been great! The work is going very well and we are having fun here in Kentucky! So this week a member called us and asked if we would sing at the next relief society enrichment night and Sister McDermott said yes. I don't know why she would say such a thing but now we will be singing. Its going to be interesting! Haha. After PEC on Wednesday we went into the chapel to pick a song and practice it. Tessa ( a members daughter) came in a few minutes later and was like "girls, I will teach you how to sing. Say LA" haha she is seven and so funny! We love to hang out with her! While we were practicing our song Tessa was making videos on my camera! They are so funny! I will have to send them home if I can! Tessa definitely keeps things interesting here! Love her! 

One of our recent converts has a puppy, kittens and a turtle! So obviously we love going to her house! We also love visiting with her! She is awesome! We did a team up with her the other day and it was great! We went and met and visited with a friend of hers and she was great! Also the member is prego and its so cute! She has a cute little baby bump! It reminds me of Sarah and Rach! I love it! 

The members here are so great! One of our less actives is so funny! Everytime we visit with her and we tell her something that she didnt know or had forgotten she says "oookkkaaayyy." it is so hilarious! Also She came to church yesterday!!!! YAY!! It was so great! I love it when LA or investigators come to church! Its the best! 

If I picked favorites ( which obviously I dont ;) ) Candy would be one of them! She is the sweetest lady ever! And she is so funny! I love going to visit her and talk to her! She is the best! Also she is so pretty and talented! When I come back to visit, I am definitely going to be visiting her! She is the BEST! 

The other day we were driving down the road and we ran over something and our tire was making a weird noise so we drove over to the Funks to have Elder/President Funk look at it to see what was wrong. Turns out we ran over a bolt and it went straight into the tire. So that was fun. We had to go get it fixed and so we were out of a car the next morning until like 1 in the afternoon! 

Sister McDermott hit her five month mark on Saturday! Woot Woot! Also I hit my one month on Thursday! So Crazy! Time flies when you're working hard! Also playing hard! I love the work and people out here!

Sorry for the scatter brained email this week! Love you all and thanks for the letters and emails! I love them all! Yuns are great! Have a great week and remember to read your scriptures and pray! You will be blessed for it! Serve others and HELP THE MISSIONARIES! 

Alma 37:6-7 Simplicity is success! 

Love y'all!

P.S. Also I almost forgot to tell you! I dyed my hair! Last p day we were with Courtney and we had nothing to do so sister mcdermott was like lets dye your hair! So I said ok! Then we went to Walmart and picked a color and went back to Courtney's classroom(she is a teacher) and dyed it. And guess how we rinsed it out? In the janitors closet! #ghetto It was awesome! Love it!

--

Sister Draney

This is Tessa:)

 My grandma used to always have these little barrel drinks!

 Beautiful Kentucky!

 Everyone here has dogs

 Ghetto hair dying process!

 COURTNEY!!!!!!

This week has been great y'all!

So just to start this email off strong, WE TOTALLY SAW A CAMEL! Someone here in Tennessee has a pet camel! Its name is Shaheeb. We sat and took pictures and tried to get it to come to us for like 30 minutes! Haha! Sister McDermott even said a prayer that it would come over to us! Haha You can pray about/for anything! It was so cool! Who would have thunk, a camel in Tennessee! It was great! 

When we went tracting this week we had some buddies! There are so many stray dog here! But they love to follow us and keep us company! Some are really nice but some are super not nice! While we were tracting we ran into this lady that pretty much damned us to Hell because we don't believe in the trinity. So that was fun. She sat and preached to us for a good 40 minutes. It was so not fun at all! 

HAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Sister McDermott and I were up talking one night and I dont remember what we were talking about but she said " yeah! It was Hunormous!" I busted up laughing! I was like Hunormous isnt a word! We argued about it for a minute but now we just use it cause its so funny! We make up words out here in Kentucky! I seriously laughed for like five minutes straight! I think it was more funny to me cause I was so tired! We have been a little naughty and have been staying up talking but it is so fun! I have learned a lot about mom and we have laughed ouselves silly! We hate ourselves in the morning but its worth it! This week we are working on going to bed on time! haha

Fun story! When we went tracting by the camel, we stopped at this house and nobody answered but we left a pass along card and a restoration pamphlet at the door. A few hours later we get a text from Courtney ( we hang at her house on pday and she comes with us to lessons and such) and it was a picture of the pamphlet we left. She said that it was her friends house that we left it at! And we had already made an appointment to meet with her! Crazy! It was awesome! 

Im running out of time so I am going to rush through these next things! 

We ate a whole bag of cheerios, bought a candle thing that smelled like hawaii cause mom wanted our apartment to smell like hawaii, and on Thursday we went to see Ida! Ida had a friend sitting with her and she was so funny! She would ask us questions and such then like five minutes later she asked us the same questions and told us the same stories! It was so funny! I love visiting Ida!

My week wa great! Love you all! Church is true! Read your scriptures and pray everyday! You receive answers to your prayers and you are blessed when you do the small and simple things!

ALSO!! THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE MAIL! I LOVE IT! IT MAKES MY WHOLE WEEK! Love you all! Have a great week!

--

Sister Draney

Hello all! 

This past week has been a hard one but a good one! Last P day we went over to Courtneys house and played skip bo and just chilled with her. We also went to Walmart (one of the greatest places on earth!). It was a good day! Then on Tuesday night we had dinner with a member family. The food was.....interesting to say the least! But I am grateful for them being willing to feed us. Mom and I have been so great! We love each other:) We love to take pictures! Well let me rephrase that... I love to take pictures and I make mom take them with me! We are so cute so why wouldn't I love to take pictures of us? Haha! Oh so the other day we went out tracting and some dogs were barking at us like they usually do and one of them comes up and starts biting Sister McDermotts skirt! It was sketchy! There are SO MANY dogs here! and most of them are gross strays! They always bark at us and some of them are so scary! 

This Last Friday was my very first exchange! It was not super great to be honest. I didn't like being away from mom and it was just kinda boring and not productive at all! I was glad to be back home with my mommy dearest! Me and mom stayed up the other night until 1 am talking! It was bad! Don't ever do it missionaries! It kills you the next day! But it was really fun! The next day I had to give a talk in Sacrament meeting. It was so awkward because there were only 12 people there( that is pretty much the whole branch, 12 people). I thought it was bad speaking to 200 people! Nope speaking to 12 was worse!
During my personal study I came across a chapter in the Book of Mormon that was awesome! Its 2 Nephi 32. It has some great insights and such so read it! Also Ether 12:27 is an awesome verse! I love the chance I have to be out here serving and learning and growing! I love my mission!
 Anyways I know this is a short one this week but I want to be able to answer personal emails too! Love y'all and I hope you have a fantastic week! 

--

Sister Draney

Family and friends! 

I have arrived! It has been a crazy and hectic week to say the least but it has been great! On tuesday we left the MTC at 3:30 a.m.! It was insane! Saying goodbye to my beloved Sister Sanders and Frederick was really hard! I didn't like it at all! But they are where they need to be! All the new missionaries stayed at the mission home the first night and it was kinda weird but good. I was so tired that I don't remember much about that night. The next day we went to transfer meeting. I was so nervous to find out who my trainer was going to be! We had a little meeting before about what they expect out of us concerning our apartments and cars and such. Then they started to tell us who our trainers were....I was nervous, sweaty, and my heart was pounding! When President Griffin called my name I went and stood by him. He said Sister Draney, you will be serving in the Whitley Kentucky area and your companion will be Sister McDermott! I was so excied as Sis McDermott stood up and hugged me! She is absolutely amazing! I love her! We get along so well and I just love her to bits! The first few days were awkward but as we got to know each other we just grew to love each other even more! She calls me baby and I call her mom cause she is like my mommy out here and I am the first sister she has trained. We always joke that I will give her grandbabies soon! haha! Its so great! We also serve with a senior couple and they are great! President Funk is the president of our little branch and Sister Funk reminds me so much or Grandma Becky! I love it! They are so fun and we love them because they feed us and drive us to district meeting! haha Which by the way it takes us TWO HOURS to get to district meeting! Its crazy! My district is so awesome too! the Elders are so funny! Another exciting thing! I had my first baptism on Saturday!! It was so awesome! I loved it! Jayden is 9 and so cute! When he walked into the water, he had the biggest smile on his face! It was so cute! And when he came up out of the water, he started swimming around and saying, IM SWIMMIN IN HERE! It was so cute! I have so much to tell you all! But I never have enough time! So I will do my best to fit it all in! The other night mom and I woke up to an INSANE wind and thunder and lightning storm! And aparently they have tornados here and there is always a storm before, so thats comforting to know. but it wasnt a tornado luckily. 

Funny story: So we were going out to visit some less actives and they ended up not being home so we decided to go and knock on the door across the street. One thing you have to understand is that people out here in the south are very trusting people. Anyways back to my story. So we knock on the door and we hear someone inside yell "come in!" and we just look at each other like what the heck? We then proceeded to open the door and walk into the strange house. Then when we were in the house, we had find the person in the house which was awkward cause we were like going down the hall and couldn't find them... When we finally found them, they were in a dark room watching Pitch Perfect. There were two teenage couples on the couches cuddling...... IT WAS SO AWKWARD!!!!! So we gave them a pass along card and left as fast as possible! Then we laughed all the way to the car! ALSO WE SAW A BEAVER NEXT TO THE HOUSE! That was cool. Kinda freaky, but cool. 

Another fun fact about the south is that it is humid. Most of you know that but when I say humid, I mean like get out of the shower, blow dry your hair and ten minutes later your hair is wet again, humid. Its insane! I don't even bother doing my hair anymore! Its useless. and its just going to get worse! Thats a thing. I don't like it. At all! 

Now onto the people I have met:

Jeff: He is a recent convert and is AWESOME! We went and visited him my second day here in Kentucky. He is such a stellar guy! Jeff was just called to teach the gospel principles class and he is terrified! He will be so great! Its hard to explain how amazing he is! Just know he is like the golden recent convert.

Sister Pennington: She is a less active member. We had a lesson with her on Friday and it was amazing! She had so many excuses and it was so cool cause for every excuse she had, me and mom had a scripture for her. It was such a great lesson! She cried and we REJOICED! Not becuase she was crying but because we knew that we had reached her! It was so so cool! We were on cloud 9 all night. 

Jayden: He is the one who just got baptized on Saturday! He is the sweetest kid! Before he could get baptized he had to give up sweet tea. It was really hard for him but he did it! Such a great little kid! He's awesome! 

We have so many more people but I haven't met them yet.

It is such a humbling experience being here. Everyone is pretty poor and have very little. They are all so sweet and kind. Well most of them. We are very blessed to live in such a nice area and have the things we do! Remember always that you are very blessed! Most people here live in VERY run down houses/trailers and hardly have enough money to pay for food and clothing. They are all so giving and kind even they have nothing to give! A lot of people have other peoples kids that they are taking care of. They are all amazing people! 

There are so many stray dogs and cats here! Its crazy! You don't dare touch any animal becuase you can see the fleas and bugs on them and they look gross. Its sad but its how it is! Everyone here has at least 3 animals here. As a result, their houses smell so bad like urine and wet animal. So thats gross.

Anyways! Thats the gist of my week! I love my mom and Kentucky! Let the work move on! Love you all and miss you lots! Write to me! Read your scriptures and pray! The Lord is always on your side! 

Mosiah 7:33

Hola mi familia y amigos!

haha that is probably not even real spanish! But hello everyone! I have so much to tell you all this week but I am short on time so we will see how it goes! 

This week my companion and I received our TRC investigator. I'm not sure what TRC stands for but pretty much it is someone hired by the MTC to be an investigator. Some are actual investigators but some aren't and you have no idea which is which and they refuse to tell you. Anyways our TRC was Leah. She is so great! I love her to death! But to be honest, our first two meetings with her I walked out crying. She is very firm in her beliefs and isn't scared to tell you what she thinks. I didn't want to go back for our third lesson and considered pretending I was sick so I wouldn't have to go back haha. The third lesson was incredible! The spirit in that room was undeniable and not even Leah could say otherwise! I wish I could go into more detail but I love her and we had some pretty incredible spiritual experiences together! In our last meeting with Leah, she gave my companion and I a bent nail. She told us that the nail represented her. The nail was bent because we/she are not perfect. She continued by saying that when missionaries come in to teach her, she felt like they were trying to shove their beliefs down her throat and into her head and that was like hitting the bent nail on the head, which as we all know will just bend it more. Then she said that when we came to visit with her, she felt like we were patting her on the back and being real with her, which means that instead of hitting the nail on the head, we were tapping it on the bend and making it a little straighter. She said that we had helped her to come to know God better and to trust in Him more! I felt the spirit so strongly! It was awesome! I just wish I could tell the whole story! When I get home I will tell you all about Leah! I love her! Even though she made me cry! Anyways next on the agenda for this e-mail is a HILARIOUS story!!! So on Monday we as a district were sitting in class and all of the sudden, one of our Elders totally rips one! We tried so hard not to laugh, but when I looked over at Sister Frederick and busted up! We laughed so hard! Then to make it even better, we were talking about stress that day in class and at the end of the lesson Brother Roberts says "Sometimes you just need to release some gas" HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA!!!!!!That started the laughing all over again!! Then, when he realized what he had done bro roberts said, its ok elder, it gets the best of us! haahahahhahahahahahahahhahahahaha! I just can't contain myself when I think about it! I love my district, teachers and just everything about this place (minus the food). I hope that you all had a great Easter weekend and that you remember what Easter is really about!

I am out of time but I hope you all enjoy that story! I love the MTC and General Conference was awesome! If you didnt watch it, go do it NOW. 

I love you all! Talk to you next week!!!

Sister Draney #2

 Sister Dudley and Sister Wilson

Elder Brown and Elder Stringham

Elder Mann and Elder Hansen