Sounds like you guys have been busy this week! I'm glad Sarah is starting to be able to get through it. Hopefully she can continue to do better!
I'm excited to hear from Rex! I haven't gotten a letter yet. Looking forward to that!
This has been a crazy busy week for us! But such a good one! Sis. Bakker and I are doing so well! I am so grateful for her! I have always enjoyed being a missionary and doing what we do, but this transfer I truly am LOVING what we are doing together. I love it!!! We met with our investigator, Jim, on Monday last week and he set a baptismal date for March 28th! He is doing so well!!! He believes everything and is so solid so far. It kind of worries me that we don't have any concerns with him yet, I'm not used to that! We also taught him on Friday the Plan of Salvation. He really liked that! It's cool when they get it and they know that it's true, it just makes sense. He came to church too!!! He loved it! We had Branch Conference and so they talked a lot about the Temple and covenants, so we have a lot of explaining and a lot of answering questions to do. He seemed like he handled it all pretty well though. He loved our little Branch building, he said it was beautiful!
Tuesday we had Zone Conference which was fantastic! I love getting to see the Vellingas and all the other missionaries on this side of the mission. Being so far out away from EVERYONE else out here in St. Marys is hard, so it's nice when we get to be with everyone else. Sis. Vellinga asked me what I thought about Sis. Lemmon going to Massillon. I told her I was SO excited for her! I know that that will be such a great area for her! She agreed, she said, "we needed to get her somewhere where she could be a missionary." haha! St. Marys is a tough area, but serving here has taught me so many things about myself and about my Father in Heaven's knowledge of me. I'm grateful to still be here.
Wednesday we went around looking for service opportunities in the community. We got a few people to call us back, so hopefully we'll get a lot busier here soon! We also received a Headquarter Referral (meaning someone referred their friend on Mormon.org to the missionaries for a visit). So we stopped by and tried to find Brittney but she was at work. Thursday we stopped by again and finally met Brittney! She is so cute! 23 years old and is bubbly and fun! She's hardcore, lots of black makeup and loves metal, but she was interested in our message. She lost a son 2 years ago and when we told her we share a message about being together with our families after this life she wanted us to come back when she had more time. So we scheduled for Friday!
Jill has been having a rough week so we called her on Thursday and she told us that she had almost admitted herself to the pych ward again. She was really having a rough time! So we had a lesson with her over the phone and tried to calm her down and prayed with her. We set up a time for her to come to the church with us to clean with the Jensons. That seemed to help her a lot, just getting out of her apartment and getting her mind off of the death of her ex-husband.
Friday we saw Brittney. She had forgotten that it was Valentines day and had called to reschedule, but we didn't have our phone. So when we got there she had rose petals everywhere and wine out and yah, it was akward. But we went in and showed her this video: http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=1094400252001 She seemed to like it and we set up another appointment for us to come back at a better time. :)
We also stopped by Jill's Friday night. I had never seen her like that. She was so irritable and manic. I didn't really know what to do. The spirit definitely wasn't there, so we said a prayer together which kind of helped. Her son, Josh, was there too. He's 21 and less-active as well. But he seems like a good kid. He went to get Jill and him some dinner and came back and handed us a bag. We asked him what it was and he said, "it's chick food". He went and got both of us salads! hahaha! We had a good laugh about that one. I've never been called a "chick" yet on my mission. Don't worry, Sis. Bakker and I set him straight. But we talked to Jill and tried to see what we could do. She had run out of her meds and so I think that had the most to do with everything that she was struggling with. So we asked her if she wanted a blessing and we made some arrangements so that on Saturday she could get one.
Saturday was good. We met Elder and Sis. Jenson at the church with Jill and Bro. Roode, a member of the branch. We talked with her for a little bit and then they gave her a blessing. We stopped by her place that night and she seemed to be doing SO MUCH better. The power of the priesthood is incredible! I was so happy to see that she had some peace and was calm.
Sunday was Branch Conference. Our little chapel was full! It was awesome! We had all the stake leaders there, so it filled up pretty fast. There were some really great talks given! We have a great Stake President, he's wonderful. We went to the Felver's for lunch! We love them! They made us pizza and wings! SO GOOD!!! He's such a fantastic cook! Then we went to our dinner appointment. (I had to stuff food in my mouth and force myself to swallow it, I was so full!!!) We had met this women, she is the accountant for the food pantry we do service at, Annette. She is so sweet and was impressed with us and so she invited us over for dinner with her family! It was great! Homemade lasagna and chocolate mouse for dessert. SO GOOD! She was really sweet and invited us to come to mass with them this Saturday and we invited them to come to church with us too! So we are going to a Mass on Saturday... should be interesting. I'm excited! Then we went back to the Felvers. They made icecream for us and we needed to share a message with them still. When we left Dane set some goals for himself - start coming to church more regularly and start doing family scripture study again. He is so amazing. He has such a powerful testimony of the church. He just needs a little nudge. I told them I knew that they would be back to the temple in a year. They will! I know it. They are so ready! They just have to do a little more work and they're there! It's not out of reach for them. I'm so grateful for the blessings the temple brings into our lives. I hope they do what they know they need to to get back.
Yesterday was a great preparation day. We just kind of hung out and went and saw some sights in our area. Lots of fun!
This morning we got a text from our zone leaders, they wanted us to stay in because of the weather. Apparently it was supposed to get bad out, but it was just fine where we are. So then about 2 hours later they said we could go back out to work. Whatever... so today we are teaching Brittney and the Beougher family and then the branch president just called and invited us to dinner. So I think we're going to have a good day today.
I can't believe how things have just exploded here in St. Marys. Things are getting so busy and we are getting investigators popping out of the woodwork and we have a progressing investigator with a date!!! I feel like all of Sis. Lemmon and I's hard work is finally starting to pay off! I feel like every morning I get up and can't wait to see what miracles we'll witness that day. I love getting to see the hand of the Lord everyday as we diligently work and put our faith and trust in Him. It's something that I'm still working on, I have a hard time trusting Him completely, but I know it's going to be the best in the long run.
The cookies were so great!!!! thank you so much! The Jensons loved them too! They took a picture of the package and kept your sweet letters in their journal. They showed it to me last night. They felt so special, it definitely made their day. thanks so much mom and dad for doing that.
I hope you guys are all doing well this week! I love and miss each of you SO SO SO SO much!
Rex - I hope you are loving your first area and that you have an awesome trainer! I can't wait to hear all about it!
Rachel
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