Dear family,
Last week went pretty well, we were able to teach some solid lessons and are continuing to help Tommy progress. He should be ready for his baptism on the 26th (one month away!) of February, and so our focus is on making sure he reads from the Book of Mormon daily. Well, Elder Lundquist and I had the privilege of blessing the sacrament yesterday, always a very special and sacred experience. It was another sign to me of how different it is going from ward to branch, but also something that I will embrace because I really believe we are on the verge of great things in Wilmington. The branch has 3 full-time missionaries serving right now, and a fourth just got his call to the Utah Provo Mission, speaking Spanish.
Despite frigid temperatures, and another big storm is on it's way here, the work continues to move forward uninterrupted! Perhaps you've had a glimpse of what my area is like, and I'll just say that it is huge! We cover ALL of Clinton County, which has several small little towns which we are currently "thrashing" one at a time, you might say. A large portion of the people we talk to are very nice to us, but it's still hard when they tell you that they belong to a church that they are happy with. Pretty much all we can do at that point is bear our testimony and invite them to order a copy of the Book of Mormon. As it says right in Preach My Gospel, "The Book of Mormon, combined with the Spirit, is your most powerful resource in conversion." Clearly, bearing testimony of the gospel and of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon is the best way we can open people's hearts to our message.
We had an experience with that just the other day when we were tracting a little trailer park. We started talking to this guy named Howard who went to a Pentecostal church in one of the small towns (New Vienna, I think) and said he was happy there. I started bearing testimony of the Book of Mormon and how it's intent is not to take away from our faith in Jesus Christ or the Bible, but rather to give them more knowledge and more faith in Him....really to give us more EVERYTHING! Well, good things of course. I then asked him if he felt that it would something worth studying, and his whole mood changed and he said he'd be happy to read it. We presented him with a copy and made a return appointment for this coming Saturday. It was simple, I just shared my testimony....but that was enough for him to open his heart and change his mind. We have several potential investigators, all of whom we have given a Book of Mormon and set return visits with. I'm earnestly hoping and praying that they will become new investigators and start on the road that leads to eternal life.
I could think of nothing better for Kenz than presenting a Book of Mormon with her testimony written inside to her friend. It's clear that she likes a lot of things about the Church and is curious to know more, and if she reads and prays about the Book of Mormon then I know that she'll act on whatever prompting she receives. In reading Kenz's e-mail it's great to see that she is planning on doing just that, and I'll be praying that she receives a witness that it's true. Also, our goal with the members is to set up Family Mission Plans and invite them to prayerfully set a date that they can find somebody by for us to come teach. We feel that a good way to increase members' excitement to do missionary work, and also to decrease fear is to give them copies of the Book of Mormon to give away with their testimonies written inside; AND making sure that EVERY members' home has a Preach My Gospel manual, so I was excited to read that information from Elder Neuenschwander, I think it will help.
We have to remember that the cover of that book also says above Preach My Gospel that it's a guide to missionary service. Not just full-time missionary service, but ANY missionary service. If members aren't sure how to do missionary work, the first step is to get a copy of Preach My Gospel and STUDY it, not just read it. I'm thankful that you introduced it to me early on, and that my understanding of how important it is has not wavered.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Monday, January 5, 2009
Why it's called work
Dear Family,
This was a good week, but a tough one. It almost kills me to be writing this, but Bernard did not get baptized this past Saturday. We knew that he had a felony on his record, which was from several years ago but still required that he be interviewed by President Robbins. It was discovered that he is still on probation for some unpaid fines, and will not be eligible for baptism until April. I was almost as crushed by the news as Bernard, but I was determined not to let it hold me back.
President Robbins went out of his way to take Bernard to the government building in downtown Hamilton to get some paperwork so that he can find some kind of job (he's been unemployed since August), and then took him out to lunch and then back home. Bernard was going through a really hard time, his relationship with his fiance was almost finished and of course he isn't working right now. We went by to see him after President Robbins had dropped him off, and he was feeling 100 times better and that he wanted to patch things up with his fiance. He told us that his only family right now is the Church, and he will do whatever it takes to stay on track for baptism. He even told me that he's been thinking hard about moving out to Utah instead of going down to Florida. That would be cool if that happens! So he is still doing well despite the setback, and we continue to see him on a daily basis.
I've mentioned previously that Joey Riddle's baptism was scheduled for this Saturday, but he told us a couple days ago that he doesn't quite feel ready yet. He is a very quiet kid, but a great kid nonetheless. That's hard, though, because we aren't sure what his needs are and we want to find out so we can proceed with his baptism. He doesn't know the other two elders very well, so the Ruiz family (his fellowshippers, and he is dating one of their daughters) has asked me to sit down with him one-on-one and get to know him and find out what he needs help with. I have been praying for guidance and inspiration to know what I can do to best help Joey; the Ruiz's believe that he will only open up to me, so it's a pretty big test for me but I am up to it.
I am confident you already pray for me and for my investigators, but maybe pray today and tomorrow for me and for him since we're seeing him at the Ruiz home tomorrow night. It was really hard to come so close to my first couple of baptisms, only to see them fall through for the time being. I was feeling pretty low when we went to Church, but the fast and testimony meeting brought much needed strength and resolve to push forward no matter what. Our investigators are still doing very well, they are all on track to be baptized before too long, we will be reviewing the first 3 lessons with most of them this week.
You are perhaps aware that one of my favorite set of verses in the scriptures is D&C 121:7-9 when the Prophet Joseph is pleading to the Lord to deliver the Saints from their trials and persecutions, and the Lord responds with words of comfort and peace. I read through that again during sacrament meeting on Sunday and it helped me tremendously. Once again, that knowledge that so many people are praying on my behalf sets me on fire with enthusiasm for this work!
Today should be a really good P-day, we are having a big basketball game at the Church, almost all of the zone is coming down so that should be cool!
Thanks a million for your love, support, prayers, guidance, and everything else that you so willingly give me while I serve the Lord here in Hamilton. This is the last week of the transfer, so hopefully I will be able to talk with you again on Tuesday, but as always, I have no way of knowing where I will be a week from now.
I remain comforted and at peace that I will be wherever the Lord wants me to, and that makes missionary work a lot easier and a lot more rewarding. Hope you all have a fantastic week!! May God bless you everyday!!
Love,
Elder Isaac Livingston
This was a good week, but a tough one. It almost kills me to be writing this, but Bernard did not get baptized this past Saturday. We knew that he had a felony on his record, which was from several years ago but still required that he be interviewed by President Robbins. It was discovered that he is still on probation for some unpaid fines, and will not be eligible for baptism until April. I was almost as crushed by the news as Bernard, but I was determined not to let it hold me back.
President Robbins went out of his way to take Bernard to the government building in downtown Hamilton to get some paperwork so that he can find some kind of job (he's been unemployed since August), and then took him out to lunch and then back home. Bernard was going through a really hard time, his relationship with his fiance was almost finished and of course he isn't working right now. We went by to see him after President Robbins had dropped him off, and he was feeling 100 times better and that he wanted to patch things up with his fiance. He told us that his only family right now is the Church, and he will do whatever it takes to stay on track for baptism. He even told me that he's been thinking hard about moving out to Utah instead of going down to Florida. That would be cool if that happens! So he is still doing well despite the setback, and we continue to see him on a daily basis.
I've mentioned previously that Joey Riddle's baptism was scheduled for this Saturday, but he told us a couple days ago that he doesn't quite feel ready yet. He is a very quiet kid, but a great kid nonetheless. That's hard, though, because we aren't sure what his needs are and we want to find out so we can proceed with his baptism. He doesn't know the other two elders very well, so the Ruiz family (his fellowshippers, and he is dating one of their daughters) has asked me to sit down with him one-on-one and get to know him and find out what he needs help with. I have been praying for guidance and inspiration to know what I can do to best help Joey; the Ruiz's believe that he will only open up to me, so it's a pretty big test for me but I am up to it.
I am confident you already pray for me and for my investigators, but maybe pray today and tomorrow for me and for him since we're seeing him at the Ruiz home tomorrow night. It was really hard to come so close to my first couple of baptisms, only to see them fall through for the time being. I was feeling pretty low when we went to Church, but the fast and testimony meeting brought much needed strength and resolve to push forward no matter what. Our investigators are still doing very well, they are all on track to be baptized before too long, we will be reviewing the first 3 lessons with most of them this week.
You are perhaps aware that one of my favorite set of verses in the scriptures is D&C 121:7-9 when the Prophet Joseph is pleading to the Lord to deliver the Saints from their trials and persecutions, and the Lord responds with words of comfort and peace. I read through that again during sacrament meeting on Sunday and it helped me tremendously. Once again, that knowledge that so many people are praying on my behalf sets me on fire with enthusiasm for this work!
Today should be a really good P-day, we are having a big basketball game at the Church, almost all of the zone is coming down so that should be cool!
Thanks a million for your love, support, prayers, guidance, and everything else that you so willingly give me while I serve the Lord here in Hamilton. This is the last week of the transfer, so hopefully I will be able to talk with you again on Tuesday, but as always, I have no way of knowing where I will be a week from now.
I remain comforted and at peace that I will be wherever the Lord wants me to, and that makes missionary work a lot easier and a lot more rewarding. Hope you all have a fantastic week!! May God bless you everyday!!
Love,
Elder Isaac Livingston
Monday, December 22, 2008
A Burning in the Bosom (and the oven)
Dear Family,
Well, this week has finally arrived!! I've been waiting so long, and now I will get to talk with you this Thursday!! The bishop is having us over for breakfast, they are planning on making a TON of food for us! Which is very important of course, but not quite as important as talking to your family. I believe that we will be making our calls from there, so you will hear from me sometime between 8 and 11:30-ish, I'm guessing. Oh, and that's Utah time by the way, in case you were wondering. Thanks a ton for the package you sent last week, I really loved everything that was in there. Thanks for those pictures and drawings too, and I don't mind having older photos....as long as I have photos that's all right with me! Those Ensigns are great to have as well, I'm guessing those are for investigators. Speaking of which, we have 3 who are scheduled to be baptized at the beginning of next month. Bernard Taylor and his fiance(they are living apart) Bridget will be baptized on January 3rd. Joey Riddle is scheduled to be baptized the following Saturday, so we are working hard to make sure they are completely ready when that day comes. Oh by the way, I'm in a 3-some here in Hamilton now. Elder Smith, who covered the east side of Hamilton with Elder Durling, was emergency transferred to a new area. So now Elder Durling is with us, and we now cover ALL of Hamilton, so that means more people to teach and more people to visit!! Elder Durling has been in Hamilton as long as I have, so we get along REALLY well! We've had plenty of laughs since he joined us on Friday, which you can imagine I'm very pleased with. President Robbins gave us some ideas for sharing the Christmas spirit with others, and we've given a couple of them a try. One was caroling, which we've done a little bit of and hopefully we will do more this week. The other one we experimented with was baking cookies for investigators and member families. All I can say is that the cookies didn't taste very good, because we burnt them all! You can't give those to people, so we have burnt cookies all over the apartment! Ah, the life of a missionary! It was kind of weird to see my name in the monthly newsletter, but was also cool at the same time! They need to update Elder Wilbur's information, I'm pretty sure he isn't in the MTC right now. Well, did Cal have a good 7th birthday? Of course I wanted to be there, but I'm sure he had a fun time anyway! I wish there was something that I could've sent to him, but I did send him and Ellie some candy and fruit snacks a few weeks ago. Oh and speaking of fruit snacks, Uncle Kent and Aunt Carol sent me a box of Treetops along with some drawings from the kids. THAT was pretty cool and funny at the same time to get that. A big thanks to them for it! Also, give my love and appreciation to the following for their letters, cards, or packages: The Rowley's, The Brownings, The Johnson's, The Farriers, The Heaton's, The Pulsipher's, and The Simpson's. I hope I didn't leave anyone out, but thank EVERYONE fot their love, support, and prayers on my behalf. It is, as always, very wonderful and satisfying to know that so many people are right there for me all the time. It's also great to have that knowledge that the Prophet and the Twelve, and really anyone at the temple is praying for me. Most importantly, it is the greatest blessing to know that our Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers and that He and His Beloved Son are ALWAYS there for us, and that if we but look to them for anything, the Holy Ghost will show us the way to go. I wish a very Merry Christmas to each and every one of you this season, and also to remember why we celebrate at this time of year. May the knowledge of the Savior's birth burn within us ALWAYS, that we may never forget the author of our salvation! May God Bless You All!!!!
Love,
Elder Isaac Livingston
Well, this week has finally arrived!! I've been waiting so long, and now I will get to talk with you this Thursday!! The bishop is having us over for breakfast, they are planning on making a TON of food for us! Which is very important of course, but not quite as important as talking to your family. I believe that we will be making our calls from there, so you will hear from me sometime between 8 and 11:30-ish, I'm guessing. Oh, and that's Utah time by the way, in case you were wondering. Thanks a ton for the package you sent last week, I really loved everything that was in there. Thanks for those pictures and drawings too, and I don't mind having older photos....as long as I have photos that's all right with me! Those Ensigns are great to have as well, I'm guessing those are for investigators. Speaking of which, we have 3 who are scheduled to be baptized at the beginning of next month. Bernard Taylor and his fiance(they are living apart) Bridget will be baptized on January 3rd. Joey Riddle is scheduled to be baptized the following Saturday, so we are working hard to make sure they are completely ready when that day comes. Oh by the way, I'm in a 3-some here in Hamilton now. Elder Smith, who covered the east side of Hamilton with Elder Durling, was emergency transferred to a new area. So now Elder Durling is with us, and we now cover ALL of Hamilton, so that means more people to teach and more people to visit!! Elder Durling has been in Hamilton as long as I have, so we get along REALLY well! We've had plenty of laughs since he joined us on Friday, which you can imagine I'm very pleased with. President Robbins gave us some ideas for sharing the Christmas spirit with others, and we've given a couple of them a try. One was caroling, which we've done a little bit of and hopefully we will do more this week. The other one we experimented with was baking cookies for investigators and member families. All I can say is that the cookies didn't taste very good, because we burnt them all! You can't give those to people, so we have burnt cookies all over the apartment! Ah, the life of a missionary! It was kind of weird to see my name in the monthly newsletter, but was also cool at the same time! They need to update Elder Wilbur's information, I'm pretty sure he isn't in the MTC right now. Well, did Cal have a good 7th birthday? Of course I wanted to be there, but I'm sure he had a fun time anyway! I wish there was something that I could've sent to him, but I did send him and Ellie some candy and fruit snacks a few weeks ago. Oh and speaking of fruit snacks, Uncle Kent and Aunt Carol sent me a box of Treetops along with some drawings from the kids. THAT was pretty cool and funny at the same time to get that. A big thanks to them for it! Also, give my love and appreciation to the following for their letters, cards, or packages: The Rowley's, The Brownings, The Johnson's, The Farriers, The Heaton's, The Pulsipher's, and The Simpson's. I hope I didn't leave anyone out, but thank EVERYONE fot their love, support, and prayers on my behalf. It is, as always, very wonderful and satisfying to know that so many people are right there for me all the time. It's also great to have that knowledge that the Prophet and the Twelve, and really anyone at the temple is praying for me. Most importantly, it is the greatest blessing to know that our Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers and that He and His Beloved Son are ALWAYS there for us, and that if we but look to them for anything, the Holy Ghost will show us the way to go. I wish a very Merry Christmas to each and every one of you this season, and also to remember why we celebrate at this time of year. May the knowledge of the Savior's birth burn within us ALWAYS, that we may never forget the author of our salvation! May God Bless You All!!!!
Love,
Elder Isaac Livingston
Friday, December 19, 2008
Monday, December 15, 2008
"and mine angels round about you"
We are grateful for the Lord's ability to protect His servants, as you'll read below:
Dear Family,
Talk about an absolutely crazy week!! At least things are still going well out here, but man was there a lot of stuff that went on. Zone Conference was on Tuesday, and it was really good! The best part was when Sis. Robbins called each of us up individually and handed us these big, thick envelopes. I honestly had no idea what was in there, but I opened it up and WALLAH!! There was a bunch of mail from you!! I was so excited to read those, it made my day! I enjoyed the thoughts, feelings, and stories you had to share which I will always remember. So that was an overall good day, because Wednesday brought with it a very scary ordeal.
I don't know if the mission office told you or not, but I was involved in a car accident on Wednesday night. I was on an exchange in Hamilton with Elder Scholes, who serves up in Oxford on the Miami University campus, and we were returning to our apartment for some dinner when it happened. I wasn't driving or anything, but it still shook both of us up a little bit. Thankfully, no one in either car was hurt, but Elder Scholes was at fault because he made a left-hand turn in a lane where you can't do it. The road system out here is WAY different than what both of us are used to (he's from Idaho), but it didn't make any difference of course. The left side of our car was pretty much totaled, but luckily the car that hit us didn't fully smash into the driver's side door, it was only damaged to the point where you couldn't open it. Like I said, no one was hurt at all, and I'm so thankful that the Lord continues to watch over us....even when we're in a car accident.
So that was pretty crazy, but on the plus side we got a new investigator that day so it wasn't all bad. In fact, we have 3 new investigators now in addition to the 4 that we are currently teaching. It isn't all shiny and golden though, as we have decided to push Joey Riddle's baptism back to January 10th. He was going to get baptized this Saturday, but we have too much to teach him and too little time, plus his schedule is pretty crazy. We will be meeting with him this Thursday, and quite possibly his grandparents as well. Joey's family is Catholic, but his grandparents are not very happy with what the Catholic Church is doing, so they've decided to take the discussions from us. So that was pretty cool to find out, and I'm sure Joey will be a big help to us since we've been teaching him for over a month now. In other exciting news, Bernard Taylor is scheduled to be baptized on January 3rd, and he is definitely ready for that. If I could, I'd have him get baptized THIS week, because he's been taught almost everything and is very prepared to make these changes. We are going to review all of the stuff with him, though, and make sure he understands it all. We are reading out of the Book of Mormon with him from the beginning, and he is fascinated by the fact that Lehi and Nephi saw the Savior 600 or so years before He was born! I thought it was good timing in sharing that story with him, since this is the season of the year where we celebrate the birth of Christ. We're having FHE with him and a member family tonight, I think Bernard is really excited for that! So to sum it all up, this was yet another very productive week for our area.
Looks like winter has hit both of us, but then again, all the snow we got last week is gone! It does get pretty cold, though, especially at night!
Also thank everyone that sent those letters, I'll try and respond to them as soon as I can. Especially thank Uncle Michael for those CD's, I absolutely love them!! Your thoughts and prayers on my behalf have made every moment so much better, and I hope mine have for you as well. I am confident it will continue. Hope this week is a good one for all of you, and it's my prayer that each of us will find ways to share the one-of-a-kind message of the Savior's birth with anyone we see.....'cause you never know who the Lord will prepare! Best wishes to you all!
Love,
Elder Isaac Livingston
Dear Family,
Talk about an absolutely crazy week!! At least things are still going well out here, but man was there a lot of stuff that went on. Zone Conference was on Tuesday, and it was really good! The best part was when Sis. Robbins called each of us up individually and handed us these big, thick envelopes. I honestly had no idea what was in there, but I opened it up and WALLAH!! There was a bunch of mail from you!! I was so excited to read those, it made my day! I enjoyed the thoughts, feelings, and stories you had to share which I will always remember. So that was an overall good day, because Wednesday brought with it a very scary ordeal.
I don't know if the mission office told you or not, but I was involved in a car accident on Wednesday night. I was on an exchange in Hamilton with Elder Scholes, who serves up in Oxford on the Miami University campus, and we were returning to our apartment for some dinner when it happened. I wasn't driving or anything, but it still shook both of us up a little bit. Thankfully, no one in either car was hurt, but Elder Scholes was at fault because he made a left-hand turn in a lane where you can't do it. The road system out here is WAY different than what both of us are used to (he's from Idaho), but it didn't make any difference of course. The left side of our car was pretty much totaled, but luckily the car that hit us didn't fully smash into the driver's side door, it was only damaged to the point where you couldn't open it. Like I said, no one was hurt at all, and I'm so thankful that the Lord continues to watch over us....even when we're in a car accident.
So that was pretty crazy, but on the plus side we got a new investigator that day so it wasn't all bad. In fact, we have 3 new investigators now in addition to the 4 that we are currently teaching. It isn't all shiny and golden though, as we have decided to push Joey Riddle's baptism back to January 10th. He was going to get baptized this Saturday, but we have too much to teach him and too little time, plus his schedule is pretty crazy. We will be meeting with him this Thursday, and quite possibly his grandparents as well. Joey's family is Catholic, but his grandparents are not very happy with what the Catholic Church is doing, so they've decided to take the discussions from us. So that was pretty cool to find out, and I'm sure Joey will be a big help to us since we've been teaching him for over a month now. In other exciting news, Bernard Taylor is scheduled to be baptized on January 3rd, and he is definitely ready for that. If I could, I'd have him get baptized THIS week, because he's been taught almost everything and is very prepared to make these changes. We are going to review all of the stuff with him, though, and make sure he understands it all. We are reading out of the Book of Mormon with him from the beginning, and he is fascinated by the fact that Lehi and Nephi saw the Savior 600 or so years before He was born! I thought it was good timing in sharing that story with him, since this is the season of the year where we celebrate the birth of Christ. We're having FHE with him and a member family tonight, I think Bernard is really excited for that! So to sum it all up, this was yet another very productive week for our area.
Looks like winter has hit both of us, but then again, all the snow we got last week is gone! It does get pretty cold, though, especially at night!
Also thank everyone that sent those letters, I'll try and respond to them as soon as I can. Especially thank Uncle Michael for those CD's, I absolutely love them!! Your thoughts and prayers on my behalf have made every moment so much better, and I hope mine have for you as well. I am confident it will continue. Hope this week is a good one for all of you, and it's my prayer that each of us will find ways to share the one-of-a-kind message of the Savior's birth with anyone we see.....'cause you never know who the Lord will prepare! Best wishes to you all!
Love,
Elder Isaac Livingston
Monday, December 8, 2008
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!!
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!!
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