How is everyone doing? I hope everyone is having a great time
finishing up the summer and enjoying every last second before school
starts. The Kentucky schools started this week so enjoy it while you
can :)
One thing I have learned on my mission is that even though we are
working hard, we can still have fun and find joy in little things. One
thing that brings me joy here is the fireflies (or lightening bugs if
we are being technical) they are so cool! They are dying off because
it is the end of the summer but when they light up in front of you
while you are walking, it is a magical sight :) another thing we look
forward to during the week is service on Tuesdays. We go over to
Cherokee park which is this HUGE park in the middle of the city. We go
and cut out evasive plants and pull vines and get spiders all over us
but it is so fun to be able to help out!
This week was a very tiring yet rewarding week. It is so funny that
those words often go together in life, especially as a missionary.
Earlier last week we taught Terry and guess what?? HE CAME TO CHURCH!!
He absolutely loved it. He sang the songs and listened intently in
class and had the biggest smile on afterwards. Afterwards he said, "I
feel so alive right now. I gotta get my family in here. They need to
feel this. I feel so happy." It was so good to hear him say that since
we haven't been able to make much progress with his family yet. He
felt the Spirit so strongly and it was really a neat experience to be
a part of. He is seriously the best! We taught him word of wisdom and
he committed to stop drinking coffee on the spot and he taught him the
word of wisdom and he is working on getting a wedding set up with his
fiancé so that he can get married before he gets baptized. What a
prepared guy! He wants to follow our Savior so badly and he has such
faith that if he is obedient, he will be blessed. We may be planning a
wedding soon so if anyone has any pointers, let us know :)
We also had the chance to teach a guy named James with some members in
the ward. He is so awesome. He has 7 kids and they are seriously the
cutest things you have ever seen. As some of you know, I love unique
names and this family is full of them. They have Kenya, Cortez,
deyron, tyreese, Lebron, mikell, and Constance. So cute!! When we were
teaching him, he told us right up front that he knows our message is
true and he knows that he wants to be baptized. He has such a desire
to change his life. I know that Heavenly Father prepares His children
to hear this gospel and accept it. I know that as we trust in Him and
His timing, he will lead us to those who are ready and willing to make
the necessary steps to come back to Him.
I also went on exchanges with the hermanas this week! I sat in on like
3 lessons completely in Spanish. It was pretty different but it was
kinda cool because I got a glimpse of what it was like for my sister
who served a Spanish mission. I even got to participate in one of the
lessons and the sisters teaching translated for me. That was awesome!
It was cool to see that no matter what language, the message is the
same and it is oh so true :)
It has been pretty interesting meeting so many different people every
single day. We average about 250-260 talk with's a week which is a
crazy high number apparently! Most areas get around 80 because they
are in cars but since we are on bikes, we can talk to a lot more
people. We have met some seminary students who go to the huge
baptist/Catholic seminaries here in town. We actually met a guy the
other day who is studying to be a baptist pastor and he invited us
over so that we could talk religion. We said yes and then he said as
we were leaving, "I'll try to convince you to be baptist and you can
try to convince me to be Mormon, it'll be great!". We will see if we
actually go over there but it would be pretty interesting to have that
conversation don't you think? It is super intimidating talking to them
because they study so much and a lot of times I am worried that I
won't know how to respond to some of their questions but the spirit
has taught me something very significant in the past few days. I know
that this church is true. It doesn't matter how much he knows vs. how
much I know. If I have the spirit with me and I teach with the spirit,
those that I teach will be able to feel it and then the Spirit will
teach them for me. I trust that as long as I live worthy and am
prepared to speak with the the spirit, I will never have to wonder
what to say. The Lord will give it to me and I will be able to be that
vessel through which our Savior and teach and convert His children.
We also got to go to the temple today! What an amazing experience. Me
and sister I both woke up with colds and we're feeling super lame but
we pushed through satans attempts to keep us from the Lords house and
it ended up being so good! We got to do everything except baptisms and
the spirit was SO STRONG. I love that no matter where you are in the
world, the temple always feels the same. It was such a refreshing,
rejuvenating way to end a crazy wonderful week and a half :)
I know that this church is true! I know that our Savior lives. There
are so many that claim to know the truth but they only have bits and
pieces. I am constantly reminded by the Spirit and through all the
experiences I have as a missionary that this message that I share is
the truth. It is real. Joseph smith really did see Heavenly Father and
Jesus Christ. The Book of Mormon was written by actual prophets long
ago. It is true. All of it. As you search and pray, asking for answers
to your question, the Spirit WILL testify of truth. He always does.
Trust in Heavenly Father and our Savior. Let the enabling power of the
Atonement take care of worries and weaknesses and mistakes that we all
have and make and as you do, you will see yourself come closer and
become more like the Savior. They love you and I love you. Keep on
trying and be believing. There is always happiness in every situation.
You just have to love as Christ would and do your very best and He
will take care of the rest :)
Sorry this one was long this week! There is just so much to tell! ;)
P.S. We got Facebook this week as some may have noticed. We can post
and proselyte on there now and like/comment as long as everything we
do is fulfilling our purpose of helping others come unto Christ. We
are all very new to it so bear with us ;)
I love you all! Thank you for all the prayers and support. I can feel
all of your love.
Have a great week!
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