Wednesday night we had dinner with the Linfords. We walked in, and Sister Linford looked kind of familiar. We talked and over dinner I asked how they met each other and they said they met at BYU-Idaho. So then my brain started trying to figure out why Sister Linford looked familiar. After racking my brain, she made some comment about her brother Isaac, and that flipped the switch for me. Five years ago, we had Bio 100 together (her, Isaac, and me). We were in a group together for 4 projects throughout the semester. I don't like group work, or meetings, so we did all our correspondence via email, so I'm surprised I remembered her. She's got 2 kids now and one on the way. Wow, small world. Brother Linford is way gung-ho into missionary work, and he's Amy Luman's (see below) home teacher, so he's going to come with us to visit her.
We've visted Amy a few times. She's less-active. We've invited her to baptisms, church, and the ward Christmas party. She said she would come each time, but she hadn't. We went over Wednesday night to ask her what the deal was and decide if we should spend our time with her anymore. We got to talking and she asked us what time church was at for the new year. She told us her new year's resolution was to go back to church and hopefully bring her girls (not baptized) with her. Sweet! She's such a nice lady, and she does have a testimony. We had asked her a question last time we visited about why she didn't want to come to sacrament meeting, and she told us this time that she'd been thinking about it often since we asked her. She did come to church Sunday and I think it was really good for her. Her girls didn't make it, but we'll keep working on them.
We met Matt Alley – a referral from Temple Square. He graduated from Purdue, where he had some good Mormon friends. He went out to Utah with some of them to go skiing and such. They talked to the Sisters there and he said he was interested in getting a Book of Mormon. We mostly just got to know him and asked what his interest was. He's an electrical engineer who works with jamming devices for IEDs or something like that. I thought it was pretty cool. He's a really nice guy and he said he wasn't really interested in changing religions or anything, but he wanted to read the Book of Mormon for himself. Sister Jenson and I both think he'll be a great member some day. He works with two guys in our ward, so hopefully there will be some good fellowship there.
Erin (the investigator who drove us to/from transfers when I first got here) is getting baptized on Sunday. She and her husband are homeless, and they just moved to another friend's house out of our area. We had a joint lesson with the Elders in the other area to turn Erin and Johnny over to them. The Bishop from the other ward came and his wife's aunt is my neighbor back home (Marsha & Dennis Thompson). Small world. Erin is excited for her baptism, and we were worried at first because she's been gone for 2 weeks so we haven't been able to meet with her. But we've stressed the serious nature of covenants and we feel like she is ready. Johnny is progressing too. He doesn't read very well, so he doesn't like to read. But Sunday we met with them again and before the lesson, they were finishing up a game of Yahtzee. Johnny wasn't playing, so he was just sitting there, and he said he wanted something to read. Wow, that was a shocker. What was even better was that he went and got his Book of Mormon and Gospel Principles book to read. He is beginning to understand more and more. I don't think his baptism will be too far down the road.
We met with Sharon again on Saturday and she told us that her husband, John, told her that he wanted to read the Book of Mormon! She's been sharing with him the things that she learns and he's recognized the Spirit at her baptism and when she bore her testimony to him. He said he wants to know for himself. She told us she's not pressuring him, but she thinks he'll come to know and join the church. He drinks and smokes at the moment. I think that is his biggest obstacle at this point. But Sharon was able to quit smoking miraculously after asking God to take the temptation away from her. Sharon's story just gets better and better each time we meet. She bore her testimony in church on Sunday. And I have to say, hers was the best one out of all of them. It wasn't filled with all the fluff that some people put it. It was just a simple but powerful explanation of what she knew and why. Wow, what an amazing lady.
We finally met with Tina, a lady we tracted into in Gosport my first time tracting. She is a very nice lady. She's very open-minded. She told us she has a Jehovah's Witness lady come, and she's been to a bunch of different churches. She loves to talk, and she loves people to come visit her. She had missionaries come to her about 12 years ago, and she had a Book of Mormon, but she didn't understand really what it was. We had a sweet conversation and lesson with her. She asked what the difference was between our church and other Christian churches and we taught her about the importance of authority and the restoration of the Priesthood. I was shaking for most of the lesson (and we were inside in the warmth this time!) because I was so excited to just teach her everything. She said her 8 year old has questions about church stuff and she tries to answer them, but then she said that she told her no one knows what it'll be like after we die. I asked her if she wanted to know and we told her about the teachings in the Book of Mormon on the Plan of Salvation and that she could read them for herself and then pray to know if they were true. When we told her we'd leave another copy of the Book of Mormon with her, she expressed interest in reading and studying everything that's in the book. Sweet! We invited her to church and I think she'll come. She said that when we come back next time, maybe we could plan it for a time when her kids are home so they can listen too. Wow. What a great lady. She'll be a great member too. : )
Well, those are the highlights of the week. Happy New Year. We had chips and salsa to celebrate. Yay.
Sister Haefele got mail every day. But now that she is gone, our mailbox is pretty empty…
Take care all.
-sister smurf
NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.
