Lake Reams

Hey fam! I want you to know first of all that I love and miss each one of you a ton! I was looking at your pictures this morning just thinking about how blessed I am to have such a wonderful family. You truly are the best and most influential people of my life. Thanks =]

What a blessing to be able to write you once a week! I think I take that for granted. Even though it seems hard when compared to how well we could communicate otherwise in today's world (i.e. through phone, texting, IM, skype, etc.), it really is wonderful that I get to hear from you and email you once a week. If I were a missionary back in the pioneers' times it wouldn't be nearly so often. I am very grateful for email.

This has been a week of challenges.... and triumphs! Ha, we endured through the trials well, and the Lord blessed us. M, miracle M, is getting baptized this coming Sunday. We had to refer him to the College Park Sister missionaries because he technically lives in their area, but he is super excited and ready to go! We are going to be there, unless for some reason we aren't able to get permission. M is so elect though it is amazing. He was a huge testimony and example to me of how the Lord really is preparing people to hear this message.

We did a lot of finding this week; we have been working extremely hard to build up our teaching pool. When we got here we had nobody, and we are slowly working our way up. Unfortunately D and B have dropped off the face of the earth (so it seems), and we haven't had contact with them for about a week. She got a job working 7 days a week, and he has been having some neck problems, and so it's gone downhill :(. They have felt the Spirit though, and we keep them in our prayers, and so I guess when they are ready then they will come back and learn more.

This week we searched and searched and searched for some new investigators. We visited members asking for referrals, followed up with potentials the past missionaries had left in the Area Book, visited former investigators, and then of course knocked some doors. It was almost a joke how people reacted when they saw us at their door. Door after door after door slammed. It's amazing how scared people are of the Mormons. We saw a guy all geared up and opening his door with his dog on a leash to go for a run (like really, he was all geared up - even wearing a headband), and he opened up the door and saw us there and was like, "Woah..." and pulled his dog back in and shut the door. I just started laughing and was like, "Wow, really?" I am learning to love everyone though, regardless of how they react to us.

That's kind of how our whole week went until right towards the end of it. Saturday it was raining, we got soaked, and were still just trying to find people to teach. We had an appointment with a guy named D. He is a personal chef. We met with him, and from the start of the lesson we could tell things were going well. The Spirit was there as we taught and testified of the Restoration. D understood and felt the Spirit as well, and at the end of the lesson we committed him to prepare to be baptized on July 31st! He accepted. We are excited to go back and teach him more.

Yesterday at church they split the wards and realigned the boundaries. I remember a long time ago when they did that in our stake; it's always a hard day to lose friends to another ward. We are now the new Lake Reams ward, and will be going to a church that is just up the road from where we live. It will be nice because the distance is so much shorter! That also means that they will likely be bringing in a new set of missionaries for the Windermere ward (the Lake Reams ward was taken from within the old Windermere ward boundaries).

Thank you so much for the letters and postcards! They are so awesome. And Allie, I will definitely be using that moose sticker on my next planner. I am making it right now. That is super COOL! Ha ha so thank you. So the McNeills were here? Were they visiting a Claiborne family? Elder Wilde told me that someone in their ward (Ocoee) knew the McNeills, and so I'm assuming it was them? That's so cool ha ha! Sucha small world.

Congrats to Shineah! Woot! I didn't know until now. How exciting! When is the date? And yeah, A.J. is a great name. ;) Hey, do you have Justin's address? He sent me a postcard a little while ago, but I couldn't find the return address on their and don't know how to reply lol.

Well, I love you all and am thankful for your diligence and examples! Sometimes things don't always go how we would like or expect them to, but that's when we really need to show our faith and obedience to the Lord. The blessings will come in time :) I love you so much and pray for you each and every day, numerous times. Have a great week and hope you all enjoy your scout camps and whatever else you have!