Monday, June 11, 2012:
Dearest family!
What a great week we have had here in Bella Vista, Arkansas! Sister Knutson and I are feeling super blessed right now. We feel that we are struggling but at the same time we are having more and more people to teach. Every investigator we have has come through a member. We got four new investigators this week! We are hoping and praying that someone will just soak in our message and a miracle will happen.
We are working with the [] who, this week, we are planning on setting a date for baptism. The only problem we will have is their struggle with the Word of Wisdom. He smokes and drinks and she doesn't think that drinking socially is a problem. This week we started the Quit Smoking in 7 Days Workshop with him. He was planning on starting today so we are going to be checking on him during the week to see how he does. He really wants to quit smoking so we think it will be a success as long as he sticks to the program. We are hoping and praying that they continue to have a desire to be baptized. They have been coming to church for two years and have decided that it is time to either be baptized or to stop coming. I hope they choose the first! We are going to do all we can to help them. They both had blessings yesterday from Bishop Peterson. Bro. [] wanted a blessing to help give him strength to be able to quit smoking and Sis. [] wanted a blessing to give her more of a surety that the church is true and to help her stop going back and forth between is it true or is it not. We hope they continue to progress and that we can set a date for them soon!
We were not able to meet with the [] last week but we are meeting with them twice this week!! They are still coming to church and Sis. [] is hoping to attend the Relief Society activity this week. They are going to be working on family history work! We are always praying for them to receive a witness that the church is true. I think they know it is but they just want to make sure. We will keep working with them and hopefully have a date for them soon as well! They are so close!
Then we have []! He came to church yesterday to the YSA Branch with a girl, [], of which we had dinner with her and her family earlier last week. This is his situation: he is from China but he is attending school up in Ohio. He was supposed to leave last Friday to go back to China for the summer but when he got to the airport, his passport was expired so he now has to wait for a while to go back home. His dad and []'s dad work together so [] is probably going to be staying with them while he is waiting for his passport. Once he goes back to China he can't learn about the gospel because the members of the church there are not allowed to proselyte. So, what an opportunity for us to teach! I keep thinking that this was supposed to happen. We were able to meet with him briefly yesterday and talk about how he liked church. He loved the fact that he was surrounded by people his own age group and that they were so welcoming and friendly towards him. He didn't understand why we separated for the third hour so we explained that we have the same lesson but as males and females, we have different roles in our lives so we separate so we can have the lesson according to what we need to be taught so we can apply it to the roles that we have. Once he understood that, it made total sense to him. Other than that, he loved church! We also gave him a Book of Mormon to read and he said he would because he doesn't have a lot of other things to do. We are going to meet with him and []'s family this week and teach him about the Restoration and see how he liked reading the Book of Mormon! He is such an awesome guy and he has such a sweet spirit!
It is amazing to see how the Lord works in our lives. Sometimes things happen for reasons we can't explain. If we are trying our hardest to obey and be good saints, even if we fail, Heavenly Father is going to bless us for our efforts! Sister Knutson and I are prime examples of this! We struggle so much as missionaries. I mean, come on, we are only human, of course we are going to have our shortcomings. :) But even though we are trying our hardest, we are still being immensely blessed!!
I am so grateful that I am out here on a mission. There are some days where I still doubt the reasons I am out here but then something happens and I just think I am so silly for doubting. I know I'm supposed to be here. I love the leaders in our church! There is a certain talk by Elder Holland that I constantly think about out here on my mission. I had the opportunity to watch it while in the MTC and I am so glad because it has helped me have a lot of strength when I felt the weakest.
I am grateful for my Savior and the sacrifice that he made for me and for all of us. He is there for us when we feel like we have nobody there. We just need to remember that He IS there and He is watching us and waiting for us to reach out to Him and ask for his companionship and guidance.
I love you all and hope you are doing well!
See you soon then!
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