Thurs., July 3

Yesterday, Wednesday, we taught Hollie a lesson on tithing and chastity. We found out that she and Adam had been living together before they were married. She told us so innocently, I don't think she understands the position it puts Adam in. But we will let the Bishop deal with that.

Everyone here is getting ready to celebrate the 4th. We had to go back to Hollie's house three times before we caught her at home. She had to run here and there. But we went to the copy business and made copies of the lesson that we planned to teach Julie Watham in the afternoon.
When we got back to her house, we stopped down the street and called her and told her answering machine that we were down the street and were coming. We could see that her car was back. So by the time we got into the house, she was ready for us.

Hollie already partially understands Tithing and doesn't seem to have any qualms about it. We read the booklet on the law of chastity with her. We will review it again next week before we go on.

Later that day we went out to teach little Julie and she wasn't at home. Her family was getting ready to go to the coast so we made an appointment for next Monday. There was a lot of chaos in their home, we figured we didn't want to contribute to the confusion.

Last night Dad went to the church to work with the brethern on sorting out the branch list. I stayed home and relaxed, it was more of a Priesthood thing. He came home with a list of families that they want us to concentrate on. There was about 43 families. We think we will enjoy that.

The Cornells were happy to see us today. We learn a little bit more every time we go back. Today we learned that Bob is not held back by not believing in Jesus Christ as our Savior. In fact he told us that he did indeed believe that he is. We continued with our lesson on Justice and Mercy and Repentance. We had a very interesting discussion. They seem to be hung up on Priesthood authority and why we think our church is the only truth. So next time we are going to spend some more time with scriptures and helping them to understand more in depth.

Bob likes to read the Book of Mormon and continues to do that. We have had the impression that they expect us, to convert them, rather than the spirit. We keep asking them to pray about these things. I guess we need to be more specific. We enjoy them very much. They invited us up for their July 4 celebration but it is quite a ways and Leon cannot eat hotdogs. They will not be to church this Sunday, which is a bummer. But they are doing family things. Millie sent us home with tomatoes and cucumbers from their garden, which we love!!!!

Today as I talked about the Holy Ghost, I felt the spirit testify. Leon always is so great with his teaching. I'm kind of a poor second, but everyone is nice while I am learning. Sometimes they even act like I know what I'm doing!! (Just a joke.) Our mission is so worthwhile for us. How happy we are to be here and to serve the Lord in this mission. He is teaching us and stretching us and we are finding much joy.

Tonight Leon and I went out to dinner at some local Restaurant. We decided that we like our own food better. They just cook some things differently here. We are going to watch a video on our computer called, "Becoming." It is a church made video and is excellent.