Monday Morning, May 5

Yay, today is preparation day!!! I feel like I need a little bit of a change today. We have been very busy over the last week, which has been so motivating and wonderful; but we are a little worn out. The scriptures say we should not be weary in doing good works, what's up with that? A little change today and we will be ready to go again.

Yesterday was such a great day, but so exhausting too! We started early with the Sherman First Ward testimony meeting. It was a good meeting. Christy and Boyd were there, Monica and Jeanie Via were there also. Christy was a little offended by one of the testimonies when he said something about being prepared and the Lord would take care of us. Christy and Boyd are without a job and without food, so they are receiving help from the church. At this point though, they would take any kind of a job they could get. They are pretty low on their emotional reserves. But it is bringing them to their knees and they are having to turn to the Lord, especially Christy.

In Gospel Principles, Christy and Boyd were there with one other lady and us. The teacher asked her to pray and she let out an expletive that was close to the Lord's name and then asked her husband to do it. This is not uncommong for her, we need to have a third lesson on helping her to substitute other words for his sacred name.

In Relief Society, Elder Whiting and I taught from the "Preach My Gospel" manual. It was enjoyable and the sisters told us they were wanting manuals and wanted to use it. They were excited about applying it in their lives. Christy was able to participate with me a little and that helped the sisters to get to know her better. They will like her when they know her, but she holds back and seems a little harsh at times. She is a neat lady and is close to being baptized.

Between the two ward meetings I snagged a sister from the Second Ward to come with me into a class room to teach Juho. (Elder Whiting had to be in the next Sacrament meeting because Kaitlyn and Luke were being comfirmed, and he was suppose to do it for one of them.)

Anyway Juho had a look of "death" on his face. He was really down and discouraged. We had prayer and visited a little. I had taken our "Baptism Book," that we made for Julie in Corsicana to help him to visualize the things we had taught him. Because he is Korean, sometimes there has been a language barrier. We just didn't know how much he understood because he kept saying, "he didn't get it."

So about half way through the book he said, " I know that stuff, I just don't know if it's true!" (When we started, Juho did not believe that there was a God.) This has been very traumatic for him. He has his family and background that tells him there is no God and re-enforcing that daily if not more often.

We talked to him a lot about the feelings he had when he listened to the lessons and read the scriptures; the peace he felt, and joy and happiness that was present. We then explained to him that Heavenly Father wants him to be happy. Where did he feel that happiness? Sister Robbins is an Institute teacher and she looked him right in the eye and said," You need to decide how you feel and not switch back and forth." Then we talked with him about prayer and getting answers. Juho then admitted that he had not prayed on his own. Aha! the problem!! He promised that he would pray to know the truth and I told him I would call and check on him. Juho knows how to pray and easily said the closing prayer. It was a very emotional and traumatic meeting.

Afterwards when Juho missed his ride, I asked him if he would like to go to the next ward sacrament meeting with me. He replied, "I've already been to one." I said, "That's okay you can come to this one too." So he went in and had another Sacrament meeting!

Elder Whiting was sitting in the back with Mark and Alan on either side. That was really a neat thing to see. They were just beginning the testimonies. A few minutes later, Mark went up to bear his testimony!! That young man never seizes to amaze us. We did not know what he was going to say. But he mentioned a few things he was grateful for, especially the Gospel and how friendly the people were, etc. Then he closed, which surprised us as he usually is not at a lack for words. But he told us later that he closed because he started feeling like he was going to cry and didn't want to do that. I asked him if he knew what that was, and he said, "Yes, I know it was the spirit."

Church went fine, Tammi came and sat with us too. We are so enjoying the many blessings that we have been given here in Sherman. The dream that I had when we were in Sherman is definitely being realized. That is, that we were on the Golf Course, riding inour golf cart, just enjoying life. Then we stopped and went inside a building and when we came out, we were hurrying and scurrying and were very busy. I told Elder Whiting I thought that was a sign that our next area would be a busy one for us and we should enjoy the pace in Corsicana. Actually though, this area has been more enjoyable, but definitely busier.

We had Mark for eggs and hashbrowns for dinner and then we went to see Cathy. Cathy is a less active member who has married and lives in Pottsboro. Her husband is a coach and she is a school teacher. They have two children. Cathy has never recovered from the challenges she had as a teenager and married outside of the church. We asked her if we could come and help her remember the things about the church she learned as a child and youth. She really thought about it and finally agreed. Her husband was very nice and her daughter that is two years old has the "sweetest" personality.

Cathy has two brothers who served missions and a mom who works in the temple. She just has not felt comfortable or felt a need to come back to church. Hopefully we will be able to make a difference as we help her tp feel the spirit in her life. We would love to be able to help her children and husband too. We will see.

Cef Christy has kind of fallen out of the picture. His mom and dad came to live with them and they are less active too. Things have just felt a little hopeless with them, so we are thinking about turning them over to the ward unless we see a moving forward on their part. They have not even attended a meeting yet. But they are nice people. His mom fell last week and broke her arm. I am not surprised because there is so much clutter out there. They live in a two bedroom home that was already full of "stuff." There is not even room for us to sit down and be comfortable. The only way that we could continue to teach at this point would be if it was at the church.