7/1/13

Sounds like you guys have been busy and are only going to be getting busier! sounds like its all fun though!

Things here have been a little crazy! Monday night Sis. O'Driscoll still wasn't better and so we took her to an urgent care and they told us we needed to go to the ER. So we got the ER around 7:00 and around 10:00 they finally took us back to see a doctor and then sent us back out to the waiting room until a room opened up. We had all 4 of us so we had a member come up around 9:30 and take our trainees home so they could get some sleep. I stayed with Sis. O'D. We finally got back to do some tests around 12. They had her do some chest xrays and made her hold her breath and she blacked out... So that wasn't good. Then we finally got back to a room and they couldn't figure out what was going on so at 2 in the morning they sent us home with an inhaler... We got home around 2:30 and our zone leaders came over and gave her a blessing. I love our zone leaders! THey are awesome! They stayed up all night talking to us and making sure that we were okay and didn't need anything. Then we had district meeting in the morning and they got up at 6:30 and had a regular day! I couldn't believe that they were working on less than 4 hours of sleep! They are incredible! Sis O'D and I slept in till 9 - probably never going to happen again! But it was nice. Sis. O'D is stilll having some trouble, but she is getting better. Her mom set up some doctor's appointments and is meetin with a specialist this week, so hopefully we figure out what's going on soon!

So that kind of through off the begining of our week. But we have had some great things happen! We met with James and he is doing great! Still reading the BOM! He would have been at church yesterday but went out of town for the weekend, hopefully he comes this next Sunday! We also had a great lesson with Rachael! Her dad was there, he is inactive, and 2 of her friends were there too - Cat and Brittany! Brittany said she wants to be Mormon! They all left Sunday morning for a trip and will be back next Sunday night, so we gave them all Books of Mormon. They said that all they do on family vacations is read so we thought that would be a great thing for them all to read together! We are really excited to see how it goes. Rachael's dad - bro. Bennett, said, "yah, if I get my act together, I could even baptize Rachael!" It was so awesome! He realizes he needs to do some work but he is willing to do it! I think this is going to be great! I can't wait for them to get back so we can keep teaching them.

Yesterday was probably the 2nd best day of my mission so far! (the first is the Rohrer's baptism of course!) Yesterday was the Mission President's Fireside for the Akron Stake. Let me just preface this whole thing by explaining to you how difficult it is teach our investigator Tom Townsend. Sometimes I feel like I am teaching nursery. His attention span is about 10 seconds - no exageration. We were teaching him the plan of salvation and he couldn't get past pre-earth life. We explained to him about 5 times that in pre-earth life we lived with Heavenly Father and that we chose to come to the Earth. He was so lost. We got to Adam and Eve and then just gave up. I have never taught so simply on my mission and he still wasn't getting it. He's really funny about it, after our lessons I tend to just laugh because I go away not knowing if understood anything we talked about. Anyway, we have been trying to get Tom to come to church for about a month now and we haven't gotten anywhere. He says church reminds him of funerals. But then we found out he LOVES church music and we told him about the Fireside and that we were going to be singing at it. He sounded more interested in that but I didn't know if he would actually come or not. But we called a member that he has met before and they got a long really well and we asked if he would pick Tom up, of course he said yes, so we were just waiting for Tom to say yes. So last night we called the member and he said that, after a little coaxing, Tom said that he was coming! I ALMOST CRIED I WAS SO HAPPY!  We have been working SO HARD to try and get Tom to the church or to progress in any way! And we were so close, we just had to make sure that he showed up! AND HE DID!!!! The Fireside was phenomenal! It was perfect! Pres. Vellinga and Pres Talley (the stake president) both spoke. Pres. Vellinga spoke about the Restoration and about Kirtland and how Jesus Christ has been here in Oho and how this is all in our back yards! It was great! Tom loved it! He can't wait to go to Kirtland! And then Pres. Talley spoke about the book of Mormon and how it needs to be a part of our lives. He talked about how Christ asked the Pharisees and Sudjucees and all of them "What think ye of Christ?" I love this question. Becase it makes me think about what I really think of Christ. and then Pres. Talley said the question he wished to pose to us was "what think ye of the Book of Mormon?" Before my mission I would have said not much, I knew it was true and I knew what it was about, but I didn't know the Book of Mormon or thought what I think about it now. I love that Book and I don't live a day without reading it. It is a road map of how to live my life so that I can be with my Heavenly Father forever, and why wouldn't we want to read that? Why wouldn't we want all the answers? It was great! THen they had recent converts bare their testimony and Brandon Rohrer was aksed to bear his. As he was bearing his testimony I just cried, the whole time. I was so grateful that I had been blessed to be a part of his story and to have been able to get to know them. It just made me so happy to hear his testimony and know that I had been a successful missionary, that I had been a tool in our Lord's hand. I know that none of what the Rohrers have accomplished is because of me. It has all happened because they chose to let the Savior's love into their lives and to choose Him. The spirit was their teacher and He is the one that converted them, I was just a long for the ride. It was an awesome moment to see Brandon up there! I love that kid! 

The music that night was PERFECT! There was a member in the Akron ward that sang this gorgeous medley of Lead Kind Light and I Need Thee Every Hour. Then I sang with Sis. Benson (sis. O'D's comp) and our old zone leaders before they split our zone. We sang Be Still My Soul. The arrangement was beautiful and the accompaniment was insane! It turned out really well! I wish you guys could have heard it! Then as the closing hymn they had all of the missionaries and the youth come up and sing I Know THat My Redeemer Lives. I'm crying right now thinking back on that moment. The spirit was incredible. Like POWER HOUSE levels of the spirit. It felt like a taste of Heaven - seriously. I want to feel like that all the time! After it was over we asked Tom what he thought. He LOVED it! He understood what was happening, he was paying attention, he loved the music, and HE WANTS MORE! I can't wait for him to come to church on Sunday! He got to meet Pres. Vellinga and our bishop and our ward mission leader and a bunch of members. Pres. Vellinga knows exactly what to say. It was perfect, simply perfect. We are teaching Tom tonight and I can't wait to go see him and find out more of what he thought about last night! I can't wait to let you know how it goes!

I love this gospel! I know it is true! It is a message of hope, peace, and change! I LOVE CHANGE! Change is the coolest thing in the world!

I love you guys all so much and I am so grateful for all of your support and love! It keeps me going out here!

Take another trip out to the lake for me!!!!