September 9

Tuesday we tried stopping by some less actives in the ward..no one was home. Story of a missionaries life. But we got a headquarter referral that morning so we stopped by that night. Don and Leah Ann are the coolest people ever. Their son-in-law is a returning LA in the ward who the elders are working with. They have started to ask him a lot of questions and finally just requested for missionaries to come and see them. During the lesson Leah Ann was telling us it was going to be hard for her to change because her sister is a Pentecostal minister and she will get really angry once they tell her they are joining the church. She was talking like she was already planning on getting baptized! They both were very anxious to read from the Book of Mormon, they asked for two so they could each have their own copy. It's weird, from the minute I met her, Leah Ann seems so familiar; I can't quite put my finger on it. I don't know if it's because she reminds me of someone else or what. At the end of the lesson we committed them both to baptism and we were one our way, two very excited sister missionaries.

Wednesday we spent a lot of time just walking and talking to whoever we saw. At one point Sister Francis asked me why I don't pray with everyone. I told her because I don't like to do things just so it can count as an other lesson (definition: teach a principle, leave a commit, and end with a prayer). So said she likes to because a lot of people have been impressed by someone so young wanting to pray with them, but that's never happened to me. The next person we saw was this guy in his garage. When we walked up to him I didn't think he would be too interested. We ended up talking for a bit and even prayed with him. When we were done he said it was sweet of us to prayer for him and that we had enlightened him. Missionary purpose fulfilled! After lunch we had made plans to see a couple of people and as we were getting out of the car we saw this woman out on her porch. We ended up talking to her for about an hour and half and taught her the entire Restoration. The elders had approached her a couple weeks before and we talked to them later that night at dinner and I guess she wouldn't even take a family history card from them haha. Sometimes, repetition is the key. Summer is probably the smartest 11 year old I know; she's the one getting baptized in October. She reads the Book of Mormon way more than I did at her age; she even has it downloaded on her kindle so she can read it at school. Basically, she just teaches us at the lessons.

Thursday morning was a little rough. I was falling asleep during studies (I haven't slept that great because I've been sick) and we didn't have much luck finding during the morning. That night we went and saw a less active with a member. Sis Johnson (the active member) is probably the coolest person I have ever met. She texted us before the lesson to tell us to wear something that could get dirty...I wasn't really sure what we would be getting ourselves into. The LA we saw hasn't been to church in a long time because of some difficult life circumstances and she's been hurt by ward members. I wasn't sure if we were really doing anything by being there. On the way home Sis Johnson get a text from the lady we had just seen thanking us for coming and said that the sisters always bring a special spirit. Yay!

Ok Friday night...we go to Don and Leah Ann's house again. Second lessons are always hard to plan for because A. they may not be there. B. they may have not read anything from the Book of Mormon. C. they may have read a little bit. D. they may have read a lot. Well Don was already in 2 Nephi and Leah Ann had read a good junk of 1 Nephi...twice. We were pretty shocked! We reviewed with them about the Book of Mormon and talked a lot about church. We knew church would be very different for Leah Ann because she was raise Pentecostal (I've heard some pretty wild things about that church). They were pretty sure they would be able to come but didn't know if they could come for all three house. Don has diabetes and recently had one of his legs amputated so he's still recovering. But they seemed pretty set on coming.

Saturday we went down to Edinburgh to see some LA families. The first one we tried wasn't home, so then we walked over to see the other one and talked to some people on the way...no one was really interested. The family we ended up seeing was super nice! Carey (the dad) was outside cleaning the BBQ when we walked up. He immediately warmed up and invited us inside and introduced us to his wife and one daughter. He's a life long member and she was baptized about 20 years ago. They've had a lot of phases of inactivity. They started coming back to church about 2 years ago and was even sealed about a year ago. Their one daughter went to EFY and had an incredible experience. Then, they just stopped coming. There are some reasons why, but Sister Francis and I have decided to just forget about them and focus on teaching them doctrine. We don't really know if they are willing to change or what, but we are going to try! We brought them up in ward council yesterday and the ward wants us to work with them. He's originally from Hawaii and so they invited us back to eat Hawaiian food with them! Because I've met so many less active people, I've realized how important it is to always be kind in the church and to watch comments we say to people. Yes, people choose to be offended, but we can also be mindful of the things we say.

We got out of ward council right before sacrament and I saw Don and Leah Ann in the hall! I was so excited! Easiest investigators to get to church. I think Leah Ann was a little overwhelmed with everything, but Don was really enjoying it. After sacrament and then after Sunday School Leah Ann would ask Don if he was still up for staying longer, and each time he said yes! After everything was over I asked him how he liked the third hour (because obviously we weren't with him). He said he really enjoyed it and they talked a little bit about the priesthood. It's weird, when we have investigators at church I'm always concerned at what is going to be said. I've realized that a lot about what we talked about is very foreign to other people and can be really confusing. I taught gospel principles because the WML had to go home. Luckily it was only on obedience so I was able to keep things pretty simple for Don and Leah Ann. Because we've only taught them twice there is a lot they don't know. But I'm so excited for them!!!!!!! Ah they have been such a blessing this week. Things are still kind of slow, finding still isn't my favorite.

So this week President Cleveland is having us write him a scripture that gives us hope. Last week in district meeting Elder Woodhouse shared Romans 8:18. I've read versus 16 and 17 a lot because we share it with people all the time, but I guess I've never thought to keep reading :). Anyways, if you don't have your scriptures handing while reading this, I'll expound. Paul is talking about how the suffering we go through right now don't compare to the glory we will experience after this life. I've thought a lot about what eternal life is going to be life, obviously I have no clue. However, what I do know is that everything we go through while we are on earth is worth it. Hope is Christ is what keeps us going no matter how terrible things are right now. One day, we'll have a fulness of joy (3 Nephi 28:10) and this life, we'll I'm sure we'll view it differently.

Just as a side note...in the last month of so I've had a lot of dreams about going home, I'm not really sure why. This week I had a dream that you (mom and dad) forgot that I was coming home.  So somehow I got home from the airport by myself, came home (actually it was our house in Oregon) and the two of your were just taking a nap like a normal Sunday afternoon! You were quite surprised to see me haha. So you better not do that! Anyways, Sister Francis has helped me to see small miracles everyday. Sometimes I get impatient and I just want to see huge changes here in Franklin, but that's not how the Lord's work works. Missionaries learn a lot of Christ-like attributes out here, patience, faith, diligence, charity, humility, obedience. Good thing I still have a year to learn it all!

I didn't take any picture this week...so Sister Donaldson sent me this one last week, flash back to the first transfer!