Mon. January 4

Oh my goodness. being a missionary is such a roller coaster of feelings. One minute you are flying high and the next when you have several missed appointments, you feel like pulling your hair out. How grateful we feel, though, for the opportunity to teach and be a part of the missionary program. Those couples who miss out on this opportunity just do not know what they miss.

Last week was the end of the holiday season and it was not very productive. Many, many missed appointments, and people who were not home. We are hoping that it will come back to normal now it is over. On the up side we were able to meet with many ward members and get started on their mission plans. We think that is so exciting because we want them to feel responsible to do the finding for us. For instance it has been a lot of fun teaching Jeremy with his girlfriend and her family. Yesterday when we taught him, we had about 6-7 additional family members taking part, reading, and bearing testimony of those things we were teaching. It was enjoyable and felt very comfortable. It gave him a lot of encouragement.

Yesterday was Sunday and had a good feeling. Sister Jeannie Via was ill and so we could not teach her, but Joseph Bright Nauma from Africa called and we went to his house instead. Sister Kelly has us for dinner and then we taught Jeremy who also was able to set a Baptism Date. We think it will be on January 24. He wants to witness the baptism the other elders have going this week-end. The Kellys are an excellent support for him. Sis Kelly is divorced and about my age and raising foster adults in her home. I think she has adopted some of them. She always invites us to eat with them and loves to cook. She cooks from scratch so that is not a problem for Elder Whiting.

Yesterday I had a couple of neat experiences of working with the spirit. Before we left for the 1st ward Fast and Testimony meeting, Dad and I talked about one of us bearing our testimony in one ward and the other one in the 2nd ward, depending on what the other Elders did in the first Ward meeting. (Last time they jumped up and were the first and the last testimony. That is one did it at the beginning and the other at the end.) So during the Sacrament song, I opened my scriptures and it fell open to the scripture about putting on the whole armour of God, and opening our mouths to do missionary work. I thought that would be an excellent scripture to use. A scripture always brings the spirit immediately into the testimony. When I stood up to bear my testimony, the spirit was very strong and it was easy to use that scripture and bear witness of the Gospel. Everything fell into place easily. When I got into the Relief Society meeting, the teacher stood up to give the lesson and said, it was kinda funny that her lesson was based around the same scripture that I had used for my testimony. It was a witness to me of how the spirit works.

Another thing happened at the Kelly home while we were teaching Jeremy the third discussion. We had the whole family there and we were just finishing. The spirit told me to ask Chris, (A brother-in-law to bear his testimony about the things we talked about. He looked over at his mother-in-law and they kind of exchanged glances and laughed. Sister Kelly said, "I didn't tell her to do that!" She just kept denying that over and over and he looked incredulous. I guess the whole story was that she had asked him to come to that discussion and bear his testimony to the things we had talked about,(but she did not mention to me or Elder Whiting.) He is a return missionary and I guess had slipped a little and she was trying to help, but I had known nothing about it. Anyway he bore his testimony and it was a neat experience for all of us that heard it.

The last thing that happened was that when we went over to teach Joseph Bright Nauman. It was such a great experience. We kept giving him parts of the lesson and he just kept asking questions and wanting more and more. We didn't want to spend too much time there, and wanted to keep him interested. So we kept saying we need to go. He kept saying, "Do you have another appointment?" We said, "no." Then he wanted us to stay. We stayed for one hour and 45 minutes!! We talked about a lot of things and answered a lot of questions. One of the things we talked about was Temples.

Joseph's parents were killed in an automobile accident in Africa earlier and he told us about it when we delivered the DVD. I said to him, "Would you like to see them again?" He replied, "Oh Yes, I would." I told him that we would tell him at our next visit how that could happen.

So after talking a little about Temples last night he reminded us of that conversation and said, "That is how I will see my parents again, isn't it?" It was a very neat discussion. We had a lot of fun and felt the spirit very strongly. We ask him how he would recognize the truth of the things he read in the Book of Mormon. He said, "Oh, I will recognize it." And then he proceeded to explain how the spirit helped him in so many areas of his life. It was truly amazing to watch it unfold.

Dad has gone to the dentist this morning He needed a crown. It is preparation day, but everyone wants their appointment today, so we will do it first and every thing will have to wait until we have time again. Cristy, who is a new investigator, came to church yesterday, and wants us to teach her this morning.

We also have an appointment with Beverly to teach her the third discussion, but has not been to church as yet. We need to also go see Sis Via, but she lives out in Pottsboro; also Sandy Derrebary who lives in Dennison. We probably will not have time. But we are going to the Stradlings home for dinner tonight and give them the lesson on using the "Preach My Gospel" lesson on the Book of Mormon. He has just been called and is very new at missionary work, not having served a mission. However, he is excited about it, and we just need to teach him and help him.

It is so nice to be busy, but by Friday and Saturday, things will slow down and we will need to use some of our time planning for the next week. Oh yes, yesterday we found out that Elder Kelly, our district leader is being transferred somewhere else. We are sad about that. He was always caring about us and Elder Whiting teased him a lot.

One more thing is that we got a new investigator on Sunday. A member brought him to church and we are going to their home next Saturday. The work goes so well when members help us out. The thing is you never know if you are planting a seed for another time or if the time is now for them to be converted. But how neat it is to have the truth to explain to others.