Saturday, February 21

I have not taken the time to post what we have been doing this past week but here goes.

Starting with Cef Cristy, it has been a good week. Cef is the member who has not believed in the church, Bible, Book of Mormon, or maybe not even God. The Lord provided an experience with the spirit with him this past week. He is without a job and is feeling pretty humble. But through the experience he was able to understand through the spirit many things that he had questioned. We were very surprised to walk in and have him talking about God and the Bible and that there is something to it. Before we left we gave him a Book of Mormon and Bible to read and talked to him about principles of the Gospel. He, definitely, is not there. But, he has made a lot of progression. We invited him to church and he said, no. He said he basically was not worthy. A great man who will be greater when he understands the impact of the Gospel.

We met with the Stack, children, Katelyn and Luke. We met with them separately this week and it was much better. We were able to set a baptismal date with with them contingent upon them coming to church every week for two months. I talked to a Sister in the ward that will pick them up if their mother is not coming. We also told them they could call us for a ride. The teaching went really well and they are definitely excited about being baptized. Their baptism date is April 22nd or something like that.

George and Angel. Qute an interesting situation. Living together not married because she does not have a divorce from her Ex. But we also set a date with them which is just a few days after their wedding date. There wasn't much we could do except let them figure out their own deadlines.

Cristy gave us a commitment to baptism this week. She is living with a member of the church. She cannot be baptized until we get them married. But they have been coming to church and I have been taking their two children out in the hall or to the nursery so they can listen to church. We hope to set a date soon for them.

We are teaching the Franklin family this afternoon, their first lesson. It is a mother, father and youngest daughter who are interested in the church. It was a media contact and this is our first lesson with them. They have relatives who belong to the church and are quite interested.

Now that we have baptized Jeannie Via, we are teaching her daughter, Monica. We teach her on Sunday evenings in the home of the Moak family. They live in the same town and have children Monica's age. We taught her first discussion last week and she did really well. She has already decided to be baptized, so it is just a matter of teaching her enough and setting a date. She is a very sweet girl.

We are working to find new investigators. Chyrel Lane is a Phillipino who we are hoping to make connections with. She has invited us over for dinner tomorrow. Her husband is already a member.

We are also teaching JoAnn Casper, who is the sister of Christi. We are not sure where that will be going as yet. She is 18 years old and trying to find herself. She is living with Christi and her boyfriend and children. She is quite intelligent and we just need to have a really good lesson with her without all the family and I think she would be able to feel the spirit and the truth. The Spanish missionaries are working with Christ's boyfriend to get them married.

We have one other referral whom we have been trying to meet with. His name is Eric and he has been quite busy and we haven't been able to get with him. Eric sounds like a single gentleman. He has set up and cancelled twice. We will see.

Elder Whiting is very focused in our teaching. It is such a priviledge to have such an experienced companion. I love it when he teaches and I get to help be a part of the spirit that is there. We have been reaching out to a couple of other families who live in the wards. Tammie Eilers and Sister Lee. They are members and have needed a little bit of relearning the principles of the Gospel. We enjoy going there and helping them.

Oh yes, Heather Bray, who has been receiving the lessons off and on for the last four years. She knows it all through her brain, but it has not reached her heart yet. She is afraid of what her family will think and so just keeps dancing about the Gospel. She is a very nice person, has three children and a husband who is a member. In fact his family knew Kaye and Rob at the time of the accident and he remembers the accident well. His father worked with Rob at the University and they also worked in the church together. I believe his father was stake President while Ro was on the High Council. Elder Whiting says she is a perpetual Investigator. But we just keep hoping and praying that the spirit will teach her the truth.

It has been a good week. We have felt the spirit very strong in our teaching. We feel very blessed. This experience is one that I would not trade for anything. It is a very peaceful and joyful experience. While we miss the family, the Lord blesses us in so many ways because of our sacrafice. This is some of the best times we have shared together spiritually. We have learned to be open and honest with each other and to cherish the conversations that we share of the spirit.

This week we taught Seminary on Wednesday night. It was a good experience and we worked it out so that we shared the experience. The spirit was there and we all felt it.

Pres. Little called and asked us to speak in Saturday night Stake Conference meeting. He said we could have ten minutes. I told Elder Whiting I would help prepare the talk and he could give it!! Good deal, huh!!! He also said that we are the only Seniors in the whole stake right now who is serving a mission. Wow, they just don't know what they are missing out on. But we will tell them. This experience has made me so much aware of our purpose here upon the earth and that we can choose to have the spirit if we pay the price. The things that we think are important are not important at all. We get things all mixed up.