The fruits of work

Isaac was blessed to stay in Hamilton for at least another transfer (meaning until the middle of January.) Here is the latest from him:

Dear Family,

Sounds like you had a very good reunion, and of course I wish I could've been there. That's all right, though, because we are all being blessed as Britney and I are on the Lord's errand. So, winter has officially hit Ohio!! We got a decent amount of snow, and the overnight temperatures combined with some freezing rain make for driving on a virtual ice rink! All's well so far, no accidents to report. I know that the Lord is watching over and guiding us in His work. This was a fairly good week, not as good as we've had but you can't have 10+ lessons every week!

Elder Ficklin and I are putting our ideas together to bring about more success in this area. 4 of our investigators are progressing, and we have a very good possibility of seeing 3 of them get baptized later this month (if all goes well)! We also could have 4 new investigators AT LEAST this week, so it's shaping up to be another good one! We were also able to attend the Ward Christmas Party on Saturday night, and that was a lot of fun, especially when 2 of your investigators are there! We had a great fast and testimony meeting the next day, and a lot of things are really starting to fall into place. By that I mean that we are getting more appointments with members, less-actives and investigators are coming to Church, and we're able to speak with a lot of people and get to know them better.

I've got a great story to tell about one of our investigators, Jodi Goins. Her son Wayne is a member who we work with quite regularly, and he is working on eventually going on a mission. He was in the military for a couple of years, during which time he joined the Church, received the Melchizedek Priesthood, and also got his patriarchal blessing. However, he became less-active shortly after that and lost his way in life, so to speak. We first met him at October conference, which was when he told us all of that stuff. At the end of last month, he invited us to start teaching his mom the lessons, which of course we consented to do right away. We left her with a Restoration pamphlet and DVD, both of which she just loved! She told us during the first lesson that she just always knew there was something more than the Bible. At the end, she turned to Wayne and told him to baptize her! She's been doing well since then, and we plan on teaching her the second half of lesson 2 today as well as the Word of Wisdom. The coolest part, however, is this. She works full-time as the baker at Wal-Mart and is unable to get Sunday's off. Wouldn't you know it, there I am standing in the foyer greeting people, and in walks Jodi! She told us that she called in "sick" for the sole purpose that she could attend Church! Now if that's not someone who's prepared, then I don't know what else it could be! I absolutely marvel at the way Heavenly Father prepares people to accept the gospel, and it's really fun to see the different ways the He does it.

A fitting conclusion to the week was the First Presidency Christmas Devotional last night, which I thoroughly enjoyed! I love and sustain them, the Twelve, and all the General Authorities who work hard to build up the Kingdom of God on the earth. So like I said earlier, this is promising to be another good week, starting with Preparation Day today of course. A member is going to have us try SQUIRREL later today, that should be rather interesting.

Tomorrow is Zone Conference, which is probably my favorite because of all the missionaries I get to see, as well as President Robbins. Well, I don't know if there's anything else to add, so I guess I'll be signing off for another week! May God's choicest blessings be given to all of you!!