Wednesday, February 4

A week has gone by since I have written in this blog. I had better get myself in gear and record some of this stuff or I will be very sorry.

We have been having some very interesting experiences. We have had an enjoyable week and have worked hard. We also had interviews with Pres. Smith the end of last week. He is a great man and we love interviewing with him. He is very open with us and appreciates so much, having us here to help him. There are only two senior couples left in the mission right now.

We are still working with Tammy, who is a member, but has been less active. We got to meet her husband last week. Such a very nice guy. Tammy is restructuring her testimony of the Gospel after falling away for a period of time. We are helping her to come back into activity. She is trying to quit smoking right now too. Once we get her on her way, then we hope to teach Joe, her husband. Once we get over the hump of smoking, we know we'll make it. We put her name in the temple too. The neat part about this is that we didn't know that she smoked. But on Sunday when she came to church, (for the first time,) she sat by me and i could smell the tobacco on her breath. We did not say anything about it, but on Tuesday when we taught her we ask her if there was anything she wanted to talk with us about. She then brought up the smoking problem. We felt happy that she was safe enough to tell us.

Cristy and Joann have been on our list since we got here. Christy is not committed. She only lets us tech because of her boyfriend who is a member. The younger missionaries want us to teach her so they can get married and she can get baptized. The problem is that she ditches us every chance she gets. It makes it especially hard for us because it is quite a ways for us to drive clear over there and never know if she will keep her appointment or not. Joann is her sister who is staying with her. We think she is enamored with the young missionaries.

This past week we met the Franklins. There is Christy, the wife, Boyd, the husband, and Ashley, their youngest daughter, who still lives at home. They were old medias that we found and contacted. They wanted to be taught the Gospel. We are excited to be able to teach them. We will start teaching them on Saturday afternoon.

Joseph Nuoma has not kept his appointments so we are not going to teach him unless he calls us.
Jeannie Vie is being baptized on the 14th of February. We planned her baptism program today. Monica, her daughter, is also wanting the lessons. We will probably start teaching her as soon as Jeannie is baptized. Her Mom said this morning that she also wanted to be baptized. She is 15.
We taught Jeannie about chastity today.

Tuesday afternoon we were able to teach Angel and George. They are a very unusual couple. She is a member and he is not. They are a couple on disability and have some problems. one of them being that they are not married. Before they can get married, she has to get a divorce and they do not have the money to do it. So they are waiting for the money and then they can get married, baptized, etc. Anyway we are teaching him and he is easy to teach. We are on the 3rd lesson next week.

Tomorrow we get to teach Heather. She has been attending church for a few years, but has not been baptized. She says she doesn't know if the church is true because the Holy Ghost has not told her. But the truth is that she is afraid to know. She is afraid of what her mom will think if she is baptized. She is afraid to even tell her mom that her kids have been blessed. She has had the missionary lessons before so we are going to read scriptures with her and help her to feel the spirit.

A couple of the people we are teaching are members because we just want to help them and also help people in their family to come back. I feel grateful everyday that we are serving in the mission field. It is such a blessing in my life. I love working with Elder Whiting and the feelings we have together as we work.

I have found out it is really a huge commitment to be on a mission. The work never goes away. There are so many people in need. It is so exhausting and yet so exhillarating! Some days you love it and you don't like it so much at the same time. But all in all the rewards are so great and the feelings of the spirit are so intense and rewarding.

I talked to Anthony tonight about Grandma Ferrell. She is continuing on and is in pain. He said the nurse came today and she was running a fever. So they took a urine sample and hadn't gotten back with the results. But they are giving her morphine. What a blessing it would be if Dad would come and get her. I hope it will not be long.

I'm so grateful for the feelings of the spirit that give us peace and testify of the truth taught in the Book of Mormon. I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve my Heavenly Father and for the many rich blessings he affords us because of who he is. I know he gives us far more than what we deserve.