9/3/13

It has been  a long, but great week! Tuesday I was still sick, but we were able to go out for a little bit. Frank Cain is in the hospital again, he has heart failure. So we went with the elders to give him a blessing. It was a great experience for everyone. The spirit was so strong! Wednesday we had a lesson with Leilani. She is doing so well! I am starting to understand the change that has taken place as she has accepted the gospel, but sometimes it's still hard to believe! I love her so much! Thursday we had a relief society activity that we went to and got to know a lot of the sisters in the ward a lot better! There were a few less actives that we got to meet and we hope to see them more! Friday we went to A LOT of less active's homes to try and meet a lot of people that no one knows. We got to meet a few, but most of them weren't home or didn't want to see us. We also helped the Padilla's (the Cuban family who are investigating the church) move. Leticia's ex-husband stopped paying the rent so they had to be out that day. It was really sad, but I'm glad we were able to help them out! THey are so fun! My companion was able to talk to them because she speaks Portuguese, which is really close to spanish. It was fun for them! I love hearing her speak and helping her with her language study. Saturday we did some emergency service for a family that is moving into the ward that are going to become investigators for the other sisters. It was fun! All week we have been doing a ton of tracting and stopping by former and potential investigators just trying to find some new people to teach! We haven't found any yet, but I know that there are people here who need us and are looking for the gospel! There was a great elder that said once, "treat every area like someone prayed you there, and then move mountains to find them." That's what we're trying to do! Sunday was fast Sunday and Rick Rohrer got up to bear his testimony! It was so awesome! I love that family so much! They are incredible! They say they are going to be coming out to St. Louis before the holidays, hopefully that works out and everyone back home gets to meet them! They need some fellowship and lots of encouragement! Rick got called as one of the cub scouts leaders - dad you gotta help him out! And Brandon got called as the YM's Secretary! It's fun. I don't know if they've done anything in their callings yet but I think they're excited about it. Monday was labor day and there was a big county fair going on. the Senior couple in our area got a booth and set up some stuff for the church. So we worked there from 10-3! It was crazy! I have never done contacting like that on my mission and I don't really like it. I felt like a salesman the whole time. That's not the way I want to represent the church. But overall it was a good experience. Rick was there with Sam! She has been helping us out a lot with getting Leilani some fellowship! THey had Leilani spend the night over there this weekend and all went to the fair together. It made me really happy to see Sam being so sweet and helpful to us and to Lei. Love that girl! Last night we had a really great lesson with Leilani's parents Frank is still in the hospital so we went up and sat with them for a while. We read that scriptures in proverbs "lean not unto thine own understanding" and just talked about how we don't know why these things are happening, but the Lord does and He has a plan. Then Frank started baring his testimony about it. It was awesome! The spirit was incredible! He told us about one of the first times he felt the spirit. He was in the navy and was an alcoholic. He had just gotten sober and his buddies wanted to take him to one the shows they were having for the navymen. So Frank went, but they were all trying to get him to drink the whole night and so he wasn't having a good time. One of his friends came up and asked him what was wrong and he told her. the rest of the night she asked him to dance and helped him out  and took his mind off of it. He lost contact with her later on and then found out that a year after that she had died from cancer and then he found out that she had had a husband who had died from alcoholism. So she had made a huge impact on Frank. Then years later when Frank was working as a counselor for AA he met this kid, Troy, who he was helping out and trying to get him sober. He came to find out that Troy was this women's son. He said he felt the spirit confirm that this was not a coincidence. That was the first time in the 6+ months that I have been here that I saw Frank cry. He continued to bear testimony about the Lord's plan for each of us and how He knows us better than we think He does. It was awesome! I love them. They teach me so much everytime I am with them.

Other than that not much has been happening. Just really trying to find people to teach.

We are also trying to get members more excited about sharing the gospel, but aren't coming up with very good ideas of how to do that so if anyone has suggestions or things that worked in their missions send them my way!!!!
love you all!!!

Sis. Rachel Chapman