July 10 -- The Smith Girls Go to Prison
All,
This week all I have seen are miracles. On Tuesday we had a booth at a Fourth of July Festival. There were 12 missionaries there who came out to help us, and because of that almost every person from Madison talked to us at some point. Our investigator David (who is being baptized on July 29th) came and helped out as well, and he was right there with us, sharing his testimony and bringing others unto Christ. Our little army of soldiers made it so that all those at the event could feel the love of their Savior. I am so blessed to have been a part of it.
Every week we do service at a thrift store in town run by the Methodist church. The people there are amazing and so wonderful, and they are very happy to have us help! One of the men who works there, Bob, always refers to us as "The Smith Girls" because of Joseph Smith. He then gives us nicknames that relate to where we are from. Mine is "Sister Rodeo" because I am from Texas, and Sister Hulstine's is "Sister Tater" because we went to school in Idaho. It makes me laugh!
On Friday we drove down to Perry, which is a little town about an hour away from us here in Madison. We only go down there for referrals because it takes so much time and so many miles to get there. We got to have lunch with the Perry Branch President's wife and a sweet elderly sister from the Branch. Later that day we had a lesson with our Perry investigator Linda fall through, and so we went to go find one of our referrals. We received a referral for a man named Adrean Dutch to deliver him a Book of Mormon. We had been calling the number we were given for him for weeks, and we had received no answer. We decided to just go to the address and hope to find him there. We plugged the address into our GPS. We drove there. And it was a prison. This gave us some pause, but we felt that we needed to enter and find this man. So we said a prayer. We parked our car. And we walked in. The administration building was the first building there, so we didn't have to go very far in. We stopped, explained to the front desk why we were there, and then we waited in the lobby for a while. While we waited, a man walked in who works at the prison and is a member of the church who lives in Orlando. He was overjoyed to see us! He expressed his thanks for our diligence in our work. After he left, a lady came out to see us. Turns out, she was the non-member daughter of the elderly Sister we had had lunch with earlier that day! We were unable to deliver the Book of Mormon because they couldn't even release the information to us if Adrean Dutch was a real inmate. But we know there was a reason we were sent there. The Lord directs this work, and we servants of him. It just makes me laugh to think that I went to a prison for the first time in my life as a missionary. Funny how life works out isn't it?
Our sweet investigators continue to be lights and examples to me. David is so excited for his baptismal date coming up on July 29th, and he does everything he can to share the Gospel and follow Christ. He took work off on Tuesday to come help the Missionaries and to share his testimony with everyone he can. Another investigator, Ja'shanti, reminds me so much of my little sister Eryn. She just turned 14 and her passion and life make me smile every time we see her. She hasn't been able to be baptized yet because her mother hasn't wanted her to or she has felt unready, but she recently confided in us that she has been thinking about it a lot and has felt very prompted to consider if she is ready. If that isn't the Holy Ghost speaking to her than I am not Sister Scott! We are also starting to (hopefully) teach a sweet lady named Yomira who speaks very little English. To be quite honest I was not expecting to need to know Spanish on my mission. The Lord has placed Spanish speakers here in the Branch to help us though, and so all those who want to know the truth are able to learn. Our investigator Mario continues to grow in Faith. We have recently had many amazing experiences as we have taught him about Christ's love and Atoning Sacrifice.
Christ truly is my strength. I have learned more in the past 5 weeks about His eternal love for us than I ever have in my life. Speaking of the past 5 weeks, I am almost finished with my first transfer! I will be staying here in Madison, so if you would like to send me letters or anything the next six weeks, my address will not change. Thank you all for your emails,your letters, and your prayers on my behalf. The Lord truly has a great work for all of us to do! I am so grateful to be a missionary for my King.
Sorry for the lack of pictures the past few weeks, but I will make up for it now :)
With gratitude to the Lord and all my love,
Sister Scott
This week all I have seen are miracles. On Tuesday we had a booth at a Fourth of July Festival. There were 12 missionaries there who came out to help us, and because of that almost every person from Madison talked to us at some point. Our investigator David (who is being baptized on July 29th) came and helped out as well, and he was right there with us, sharing his testimony and bringing others unto Christ. Our little army of soldiers made it so that all those at the event could feel the love of their Savior. I am so blessed to have been a part of it.
Every week we do service at a thrift store in town run by the Methodist church. The people there are amazing and so wonderful, and they are very happy to have us help! One of the men who works there, Bob, always refers to us as "The Smith Girls" because of Joseph Smith. He then gives us nicknames that relate to where we are from. Mine is "Sister Rodeo" because I am from Texas, and Sister Hulstine's is "Sister Tater" because we went to school in Idaho. It makes me laugh!
On Friday we drove down to Perry, which is a little town about an hour away from us here in Madison. We only go down there for referrals because it takes so much time and so many miles to get there. We got to have lunch with the Perry Branch President's wife and a sweet elderly sister from the Branch. Later that day we had a lesson with our Perry investigator Linda fall through, and so we went to go find one of our referrals. We received a referral for a man named Adrean Dutch to deliver him a Book of Mormon. We had been calling the number we were given for him for weeks, and we had received no answer. We decided to just go to the address and hope to find him there. We plugged the address into our GPS. We drove there. And it was a prison. This gave us some pause, but we felt that we needed to enter and find this man. So we said a prayer. We parked our car. And we walked in. The administration building was the first building there, so we didn't have to go very far in. We stopped, explained to the front desk why we were there, and then we waited in the lobby for a while. While we waited, a man walked in who works at the prison and is a member of the church who lives in Orlando. He was overjoyed to see us! He expressed his thanks for our diligence in our work. After he left, a lady came out to see us. Turns out, she was the non-member daughter of the elderly Sister we had had lunch with earlier that day! We were unable to deliver the Book of Mormon because they couldn't even release the information to us if Adrean Dutch was a real inmate. But we know there was a reason we were sent there. The Lord directs this work, and we servants of him. It just makes me laugh to think that I went to a prison for the first time in my life as a missionary. Funny how life works out isn't it?
Our sweet investigators continue to be lights and examples to me. David is so excited for his baptismal date coming up on July 29th, and he does everything he can to share the Gospel and follow Christ. He took work off on Tuesday to come help the Missionaries and to share his testimony with everyone he can. Another investigator, Ja'shanti, reminds me so much of my little sister Eryn. She just turned 14 and her passion and life make me smile every time we see her. She hasn't been able to be baptized yet because her mother hasn't wanted her to or she has felt unready, but she recently confided in us that she has been thinking about it a lot and has felt very prompted to consider if she is ready. If that isn't the Holy Ghost speaking to her than I am not Sister Scott! We are also starting to (hopefully) teach a sweet lady named Yomira who speaks very little English. To be quite honest I was not expecting to need to know Spanish on my mission. The Lord has placed Spanish speakers here in the Branch to help us though, and so all those who want to know the truth are able to learn. Our investigator Mario continues to grow in Faith. We have recently had many amazing experiences as we have taught him about Christ's love and Atoning Sacrifice.
Christ truly is my strength. I have learned more in the past 5 weeks about His eternal love for us than I ever have in my life. Speaking of the past 5 weeks, I am almost finished with my first transfer! I will be staying here in Madison, so if you would like to send me letters or anything the next six weeks, my address will not change. Thank you all for your emails,your letters, and your prayers on my behalf. The Lord truly has a great work for all of us to do! I am so grateful to be a missionary for my King.
Sorry for the lack of pictures the past few weeks, but I will make up for it now :)
With gratitude to the Lord and all my love,
Sister Scott
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