July 24, 2017 -- Back to Jail, But a Different One

Hello All!

The adventures continue, and so does the work of the Lord! This week we were given a list of names of people to go visit from the branch. People who had just recently moved in, or people who haven't come to church in a while. When we went to try to go see one of them, we went to the address we were given... and it was another jail. Sister Hulstine and I looked around, looked at each other, and then laughed until we couldn't breathe. We decided not to go in this time.

We have seen so much progression and love this week, particularly from our investigators. David Stanford is beyond excited for his baptism this coming Saturday, and we are excited with him! He has actually been trying to get his family interested in learning about the truth of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, because, as he says, he wants to be with his family forever, and now that he knows how to do that, he wants to do everything he can to make that happen.

Our investigator Linda Howell has decided to be baptized on November 4th of this year! We had to set the date for a couple months in the future because she actually lives in Perry Florida, which is about an hour drive from Madison. We aren't able to see her every week because of how far away she is. We still have a lot we need to teach her before her baptism, but she seems excited for it already, though it is months away. She also has a sweet little 7 year old grandson named Liam, and she told us she wants to teach him everything she learns from us. They both went to church this week, and little Liam got a CTR ring from the primary president. He was so excited, and very proud of wearing it.

We also had an amazing experience teaching our Spanish Speaking investigator family this week. We are only able to share short testimonies and bear simple testimonies, but that is enough. The Spirit is so strong every time we teach them, and though they don't understand everything we say and we don't understand everything they say, we know that we are all feeling the same love from our Heavenly Father.

This Sunday we had two appointments fall through, so we ended up unsure exactly where to go. We pulled over to the side of the road and prayed to know where we should go to find those that the Lord has prepared to hear his message. Just as we closed our prayer, a young man walked by and we knew that the Lord needed us to speak to him. His name is Jonathan, and he is very interested in hearing more about our message. He is also Hispanic- and his family speaks mostly Spanish. At this point I am thinking that I might need to find some Spanish books and just try to learn the language myself. We also received a referral for a man named Julio who says he wants to become a member of our church and he already knows that it is true. We are hoping to start teaching him this week-- and he speaks mostly Spanish.

That is it for this week folks. Thank you for all of your love and care, and thank you for your prayers. There is no greater work than the work of God, and I am so blessed to be a part of it.

(I had to move giant branches out of the way on a dirt road so we could drive through and get to an appointment...life is definitely an adventure!)