9/16/13

It has been a good week though! The Padillas, the cuban family that the other sisters were working with before, just moved into MY area so I get to teach them! I'm excited about that, I love them! And my companion, sis. trussel, can use her portugeause! the languages are so similar. We got a new investigator this week, Bonnie! She seems great. I'm really excited to start working with her.
The Rohrers took us out to dinner this week. It's so hard not getting to see them as often as we used to. But they are doing good. Rick finally bought some dress pants and a white shirt and tie! He looked great on Sunday! Brandon and Sam are good - I want them to try going to Singles Ward! I think they would like it a lot more than the family ward, they would relate more to the lessons taught there.

 

I don't think I have told you guys about the Shannon family here... CRAZY! So the kids are all middle-aged and have grown kids and they are all members. So Brother Shannon, the one that is in our area is insane. His sister is in prison for killing her husband  - burned the house down with him in it. The whole family has anger issues. So we were over there the other day and his 17 year old daughter and him were telling us about the time some 16 year old girl backed up into his car. Apparently she didn't leave a mark or anything but Bro. Shannon got out and started calling her foul names and then told us what he called her... he thinks everyone is white trash, I think he has some pseudo-racism going on. He also told us about the time he saw his daughter watching a movie with a guy friend in the dark and called her a prostitute. He also told Sis. Trussel that if she called him white trash he would kill her (we knew he wasn't serious, don't worry, my companion is completely safe!). He told us about how there was a kid in high school that called him that and he goes,"did I kill him? no. did I beat the crap out of him? yes." He says the craziest things. the other night he told Lazero, one of the cubans, that because they had to take all of the tests to become citizens, "you are more smarter than us." and he was being completely serious when he said it, he wasn't trying to be funny... Ah, the Shannon family. Seriously, there is a magnet underneath Massillon that attracts all of the crazy people.

 

We also had a general authority come and speak to us on Tuesday. Elder Bowen from the 70. It was really good! He talked a lot about the Abrahamic Covenant and the House of Israel and who we really are and how when we know that we act differently. I really enjoyed it. at the begining we all walked by him and got to shake his hand and Pres. and Sis. Vellinga's. It was definitley a spiritual experience. Pres. adn Sis. Vellinga cried the whole time. I love them. They are both incredible and have helped me in so many ways. Elder Bowen talked about how they were pre-ordained to be our mission president before the foundation of the earth. SO COOL! I know they were supposed to be here for me.

 

We are trying to get busy and meet every less active member that will let us. It's something we're working on with the ward missionaries. We are also trying to start a Preach My gospel class on Wed. nights so people can learn more about how to do member missionary work. I'm really excited. Yesterday in church we helped teach the RS lesson on that! It was awesome. there was such a strong spirit already there. I really hope the sisters took it home and start applying it!

 

This week I have felt so much gratitude for my family and everyone that is supporting me. I feel your prayers, and they are what keep me going. this is the hardest thing I have ever done, but I know that with all of you behind me I can go forward with faith.

 

I love all of you!

Sis. Chapman

9/9/13

It has been one great week! The week started out a little slow, not much was happening. We were trying to visit a ton of less actives and see where we could get with any of them - not much success, they didn't really want to talk to us. Then on Friday we went over to a member's house, Brenda Baxter, who has a neighbor that she has been talking with about the church. So we went over and talked with Sis. Baxter for a while, and then her neighbor's son dropped by and Baxter told him to tell his mom to come over. So we got to meet Linda and talked to her for a while. She asked us what seperated us from everyone else. WHAT A GREAT QUESTION! We talked to her about priesthood authority and how it is only found in our church and about our prophet and latter day revelation. She asked why she needed to be baptized again and we talked about priesthood again and pretty much told her that her baptism was invalid, of course in a nice way!, and then invited her to be baptized in our church by someone holding that proper priesthood authority. SHE SAID YES!!!!!!!!!!! She came to church yesterday and had a great time. She is really excited to start learning more about the church. it's great.

 

We also started talking to an investigator that we were working with some this summer, Rachael Bennett. She decided to come to church yesterday, which was HUGE! she hasn't been at all in the past year and has met with 5 different sets of missionaries. hopefully something is different this time!

We also went contacting downtown and my awesome companion thought we should go back and talk to some people we passed who were waiting for the bus. We got 2 of their phone numbers and they said they were looking for a new church to go to! We have an appointment set up with one of them, Johnnetta, this week! So exciting!

 

We also started meeting with this family, kindof, they are looking for a church. they are great people and I really hope to get to work with them a lot. I really like them!

So it has been an exciting week!

 

Leilani is doing a lot better with the Young Women - thank goodness! Her dad is still in the hospital. He should be getting out today. I really hope that he starts getting better or atleast can hang on till January when they can all be sealed together.

 

On Tuesday after I found out about TJ we went over to the Hildebrand's. They have a really sweet dog and I just sat with her for a long time. I miss him. He was the best dog. I hope everyone back home is doing okay.

 

Sarah Kay, you need some serious help it sounds like. I am so sorry to hear about all the pain you have been in! You'll be in my prayers babe!

 

I'm excited for you guys having Cory and Steph and the kids at the house! That's going to be so fun! I'm so jealous. There are all these little kids at church that are so stinkin' cute and I can't pick them up or play with them or anything. It's so sad.

 

I love you guys a ton and miss you all so much!

Sis. Chapman

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

8/26/13

It has been a crazy week. But it sounds like you guys have had a pretty good one too! I'm so excited for Rex! That is so awesome! Please tell me you guys took some pics!!!!!!!!!!!!

So Wednesday was transfers. I got my new Trainee! She is great! Sis. Trussel is 19 from the Seattle area. She is super sweet. Such a hard worker. She couldn't wait to get out and start tracting and finding new investigators to teach. I love it! It's what I need right now. So they have taken my district and split it into 3, so it's been really different. Instead of having 7 companionships in my district there are now 3. SO WEIRD! but it's exciting! The ward is really excited to have elders!
Leilani's baptism was this weekend. it was insane! So Leilani picked out a few mormon messages to show while she was changing and everyone was just chilling in the chapel. We mistakenly told the zone leaders about this and they told us they didn't want us to, that we needed to share a message about the restoration. DUH! one of the mormon messages is on the restoration... I really get frustrated when elders think that because I am a sister I haven't thought things through, that I don't have a clue what I am talking about... So I was all stressed out about that, we ended up doing it anyway because that's what the spirit told me would be better. and it turned out that a nonmember wanted to know where we got them because she wanted to use them in her sunday school class at her church! ha! So that was the first thing. then we get there and start setting up and the bishop wanted to have the meeting in the relief society room instead of the chapel because he didn't think that there would be enough people to fill it. wrong. we had everyone squeezing into the relief society room and then had to move everyone down the hall to the chapel anyway because there were so many people there. then Bro. Hildebrand starts setting up the projector to show the videos and finds out that he didn't bring them from home. so we had to quicky (as the service was going on) download the videos and get them ready to show. Then one of the speakers didn't show up until right before and she needed some props and it was just crazy. She had pictures up in chapel that definitely should not have been shown in the chapel representing "the world". The actually ordinance went great! Leilani did so good! The spirit was definitely there. The videos went well. then it was her turn to get up and say a few words. which she actually surprised me. She bore her simple testimony and thanked everyone for coming. it was awesome! THen yesterday at the confirmation things got crazy again! Bro. Hildebrand didn't quite understand what he needed to do to confirm her. he messed up and had to do it again and the blessing he gave her was very strange. A lot of things mentioned about the devil.... But at the end of the day she had been baptized and confirmed!

BUt that's not all folks! I get home and carol, her mom, calls me screaming and crying saying Leilani doens't want to come back anymore and that people need to practice what they preach. Apparently kids in Sunday school were making fun of her about something and it was just terrible. I had no idea what to do. So i just explained that the church is perfect, the people in it aren't. I think that helped, and she seemed to calm down. I talked to Leilani and she was doing better. I talked to their home teacher who is the former bishop and is now on the high counsel about it. He talked to carol and I think things are a lot better now. WHY CAN'T WE ALL JUST BE NICE AND GET A LONG?!?!?!!?!?!?!? I think everything is fine now though.

I called our mission doctor, because I am still sick and running a fever. He thinks I have bronchitis. great.

So things here have been a hot mess.

but the church is still true! and I have really enjoyed getting to work! I have been taking a lot of naps, being sick is making me so exhausted. But I have loved getting to work with Sis. Trussel. There are 2 new sisters in our apartment. Sis. Gardner and Greenwood are great! They are so wonderful and hard working and I'm really excited to be working with them.

Love you guys! thanks for all the support! you're the best!

 

I'm sending a few pics. One is of the baptism. then there is a pic of Sis. O'D's and I's favorite elders - so fun! Then there is a pic of my MTC district minus one sister

8/5/13

WOW! craziness back home sounds like! I'm glad to hear you're all doing well though! I'm so happy for Katie! I hope you took some pictures or send me some from Facebook when they get put up!

This week has been a little ridiculous... Sis. Astle's migraines have been getting worse. She looked at her planner and did the math. In the last month she has been able to work a complete day 6 times. 6 days out of the  month we have gotten up at 6:30 and worked until 9:30. I didn't realize it was that few. I have been going on exchanges with sis. O'D while her companion has been sick too. So I have been working and didn't realize it had been that bad. We had interviews with President on Wednesday. I love him. He always makes me feel better. We talked about sis. Astle and how things have been going. I really love her. She is such a great companion. I feel so awful that she is suffering the way she is. President talked to me about the missionary schedule and how if she can't keep it she can't be a missionary. It made me so sad to hear that. She wants to be here, she is a great missionary! But her health isn't allowing it. So Thursday night she got a really bad migraine and we went to see the Chiropractor Friday morning - that did nothing. He is pulling at strings now trying not to lose a patient. He told her that he thinks it's a gluten intollerance. No. So we called her doctor, which the chiropractor advised us not to do (idiot), and they were able to get her in. They prescribed her some new meds and told her that if that doesn't work that they will send her to a nuerologist. So we got home and she went to bed and I called sis. Vellinga to let her know how everything went. (she is the health coordinator/nurse of the mission) She told me that if they do say she needs to go to a nuerologist they will send her home to do that. great....

Also on Friday - craziness with Sis. Benson. She has been sick for 3 weeks now tomorrow. The doctor thinks it that bug that has only hit a few states that hits the stomach really bad. So they prescribed her the only thing that they know of that will kill it. turns out she is allergic to that medicine... So Friday afternoon she took a trip to the ER. They put her on more medication and it was just making things worse. She just kept pressing on though! We tried to go to Sacrament meeting yesterday, but she had to leave right after it was passed because she was about to pass out. Then we found out that her dad has really bad reactions to the steroid they gave her and she started having the same thing and it got really bad last night. SO sis. Vellinga told us to take another trip to the ER. (I forgot to tell you about sis. O'D first - you need this info first. She has been put on medication for sleeping/anti-anxiety for her breathing problems - the doc thinks it is related to stress. So while all of this is happening last night we realize that she had already taken this medicine which knocks her out and leaves her pretty much drunk. so she couldn't take sis. Benson to the ER) So I got to go the ER last night around 12:00. I really did not like this doctor, and I'm pretty sure he knew it (thanks mom). He told her that she was worrying herself sick and was making her symptoms occur - false. She had just gotten a blessing right before and wasn't freaking out at all. AH! It was so frustrating. anyway... we got home around 2 and she was hungry so i popped in some cinnamon rolls and we hung out for a little bit while she kind of calmed down. 3 AM rolled around and I was finally in bed.
Sis. Astle also talked to her parents and president last night and they have decided that if at the end of this transfer she is not doing better they are going to send her home. I am so sad.

But other than that not much has been happening. Leilani is still on track for baptism though!!! so that's great!

Being a missionary was hard this week, but I still love this calling! I love seeing the Lord's tender mercies every day and getting to enjoy this gospel in this way.

love you all!!!
Hope you have a great week!
Rachel

7/29/13

It has been an okay week. Sis. Astle went to a Chiropractor last week and today to try and fix the headaches. I really like this chiropractor! He is way cool and definitely knows what he is doing. They keep trying to get me to become a patient - they are better salesmen than we are I think! haha! But they are really nice. It's always fun trying to explain to people what we do when they have never heard of Mormons before! Lots of different reactions...

 

Sis. Benson is still sick. It's been about 12 days now. She has been to a doctor and he thinks it's a virus but is still waiting on blood work. She is miserable. I feel so bad for her. We are trying to go on exchanges when we can so that they keep their area going. It's been crazy...

 

We did experience a miracle of sorts this week though! So Leilani Cain is the daughter of recent converts, the one I don't really have the patience for but Sis. Astle and her have really hit it off. Well things have been kind of progressing with her and she is warming up to us more and more. She has some sweet moments, which makes me start to like her more and more. But we were texting her on Thursday and out of no where she tells us she wants to get baptized. WHAT?!?!!?!? It was crazy! We were like, "really? that's awesome!" and she was like yah, for real, and I want to do it before you both leave. (there is a good chance I will be leaving on the 21st). so we told her that and she said I still want to do it. So Leilani Cain, the girl I always had a hard time with who I never thought was going to go anywhere anytime soon wants to get baptized on August 17th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As soon as Leilani texted us that we got our knees and said a prayer of gratitude. I was humbled. Leilani has been making a lot of progress. I just keep thinking about the day when her parents get sealed next year in February and now Leilani can be part of that day. SO AWESOME!!!! I'm so happy for their family. We are also trying to creatively teach her. She doesn't like school and doesn't like being taught so we are trying to figure out the best way to help her progress. Leilani is OBSESSED with rollercoasters and goes to Ceder Point all the time. She can talk about roller coasters for HOURS!!! So we are at the point where we teach the Plan of Salvation lesson. We made a plan of salvation roller coaster out of q-tips and toothpicks!!! It is SO LEGIT!  When we get done with it tonight I will send pics. It is pretty incredible. I am very proud of our roller coaster making abilities. I can't wait for her to see it tonight!

 

We had kind of a bold/serious lesson with Tome at the begining of last week. We told him that we had a purpose and expectations. We told him that he needs to stop "trying" and starting doing. We told him we need to see a little bit more commitment from him. We were also loving though. But we haven't been able to get a hold of him since... We are going to try stopping by tonight and see what's going on.

 

James Jackson is funny. The ward had a Pioneer Day barbeque and he came to it. He met lots of members and had a good time but then didn't show up to church on Sunday. WHAT?! I don't know what is going on with him... We might need to have a come to Jesus meeting with him too...

But we are trying to find some new people still. We are also trying to visit more less-actives and part member families and see what kinds of referrals we can get there a long with bringing them back to activity.

 

The weather here has been incredible!!! 70's for the past week or so! I AM LOVING IT!!!! We've even had to put on jackets a few nights! And a lot people have been telling me that the heat doesn't get close to St. Louis, so that made me happy too! I should be able to handle this no problem!

 

So transfers are coming up in about 3 weeks - the 21st. I am excited and at the same time not really. I am nervous to leave my first area. This is all I know and I don't want to leave the people here who I have come to love! It's going to be so hard leaving  Massillon. I am also so sad to leave Sis. Astle. I have really come to love her and I am going to miss her SO much. I am finally back in a companionship where I really enjoy my companion. I don't want to leave yet!!!! But I know the Lord needs me other places so I just have to trust in that.

 

I love being a missionary. There are some times when I think "why in the world did I choose to do this?" but most of the time I am so grateful I chose to do this. I love being a part of people's lives in a way that I would never have been able to. I love being a student in the gospel. I love LEARNING! I never thought I would say that. i love studies. I love being able to feel Heavenly Father's love for His children. I love being able to see myself change as I apply His gospel to my own life. I love that I love reading the Book of Mormon - also something I never thought I would say. I never thought it was something that I would be able to do and actually understand. I love being a representative of Christ. He represented me while He was suffering and now I have a chance to represent Him.

 

I love you all and miss you all so much!!!!!

Rachel

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!!!!