The pictures are from Erin Crouch's baptism on Saturday, January 9th. Her husband will hopefully follow soon after. He's got to give up smoking first. But he is progressing in his knowledge of the gospel and his desire to learn more and be better.
This week we've spent a lot of time with the Thayers. We found out Tuesday that Thomas has picked up the cigarettes and coffee again. And he didn't come to church on Sunday. It's really hard on Sister Thayer because she doesn't want to do it alone. She gave up smoking and coffee too, and she's been really solid since then. Thomas is much like me in that he is a logical person and wonders "why" a lot. Except he's different from me in that he lets those unanswered "whys" hang him up. He's really struggling with his own testimony. The day Sister Thayer found out Thomas was smoking again, she about lost it. But she's found the resolve to be strong and continue to progress back to the temple. Her daughter, Ashley, got baptized Dec. 5th and we're helping her to become strong in the gospel so that she can be a support to her mom.
We volunteer at a new place for service called the Shalom Center. It's a place for homeless people or those who just can't make ends meet. They provide meals, showers, phone and mailing services, and a place to stay in from the cold. We serve lunch there on Fridays. While there, Sister Jenson got hit on 3 times by homeless people. Haha. We got a kick out of that.
Amy Luman came to church again Sunday! She participated a lot in gospel principles class. She says she's still trying to get Brittney up for church. I think the 11:00 would've been better for Brittney. Amy always skips out as soon as church is over. But slowly people are introducing themselves to her and hopefully she'll gain some friends at church so she won't leave as soon as the closing prayer is said.
We met with Bill and Aggie Adams (the old Catholic couple) yesterday with Sister McGlone. It's been a few weeks since we saw them last. We did some more getting to know them and then they said they had questions about the Book of Mormon. They pulled it out and they had questions from 1 Nephi 14. They'd been reading! He had a lot of questions, mostly on clarification about the time period and exactly what people it was talking about. I think he had in his mind that it was the same story from the Old Testament, so he was confused when Nephi built the boat – he wondered if it was Noah's Ark – and also about Ishmael – he thought that was the same as Abraham's son. We were able to clear things up and re-teach just what exactly the record was. They are willing to read and we've given them the Restoration and Plan of Salvation pamphlets to read as well. They're still set on not converting though. We'll get them some time. : ) Sister McGlone was talking to Bill afterwards and said that it took her 2 ½ years to convert. As we were putting our coats on, Bill said that to Aggie and then said that they had a while to become Mormons. Ha. Aggie then said she wasn't going to become a Mormon. Oh, such a nice couple. I think for them (especially Aggie) Catholicism is more of a tradition. She was raised Catholic. Bill joined later in life. We have an appointment with them next week. Aggie insisted that we come back.
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