6 Months Out - December 5, 2011

Hello!I hope you all are doing well. I am doing great...as is sister Welch. That windstorm looks like it was awful! I hope the power comes back on soon. Brrrr!

We had quite an adventure on Monday. Sister Welch and received blankets and matching pillows for christmas from a member. However, their dog got a hold of sister Welch's pillow and they had to sew it back together. Sister Welch said her pillow stilled smelled like a dog so we thought it would be a good idea to stick the pillow in the washer. I told her she could throw it in with my clothes. That was a bad idea. When we opened up the washer, there was white fluff everywhere. I think the fluff multiplied and replenished in the washer. We spent about half and hour re-stuffing her pillow and I am still finding fluff inside my clothes every once in a while. It was pretty funny.

Oh, and I forgot to tell you what happened last week when Sister Welch and I were tracting in the Albertson area. So, now I will tell you. Sister Welch and I went tracting one evening to find new people to share the gospel with. There are a lot of hispanic people in Albertson. We stopped at an area that had quite a few streets with houses. We picked a door and knocked and a sweet hispanic lady answered. She told us very nicely that she did not speak much English. So, since Sister Welch and I have been practicing our espanol we made an attempt to talk to her. Sister Welch said something about us being missionaries "a la iglesia de Jesu Cristo de estados unitos" Which, translated says "the church of Jesus Christ of the United States." The lady started laughing and then we both started laughing and she corrected us. We decided it might be best to refer her to the Spanish Elders. I am glad I am an English speaking missionary.We met with a less active couple, the Browns on Tuesday. They have had some pretty serious health problems, but know that they should be coming to church now that they are capable. They just choose not to. It is sad. They said that they might come back to church if we keep visiting them though. Bribery...We also went on exchanges with a couple of members in Albertson/Mt Olive and met with another less active lady named Polly. She is a funny lady. She told Sister Welch and I that she could tell us how many kids we would have and if they would be boys or girls. I told her I didn't want to know. We also met with Kaitlin and Austin and Jason and Tiffany on Tuesday night. (They are Sarah's cousins that we have been teaching.) They have been reading the Book of Mormon together as a family and were able to come to church last week. We taught the Plan of Salvation part 1 with them. It was a really good lesson. We set baptismal dates with them for Jan 7. They are excited and really like coming to church. It is so neat to see their dad who has been less active changing. He was so unhappy the first time we met with him, but he was laughing and smiling and had a light about him that wasn't there the first time we met with him.Wednesday we had a really good district meeting. Elder Thatcher is such a good district leader. He is a very dedicated missionary. Our lesson was on what people need to feel/know on the first contact, what they need to feel and do in the first lesson, and what they need to know and do in order to progress. It was a day of much enlightening.We met with Claire afterwards. She has been kind of sick and wasn't able to read as much as she has in the past, but she found her birth certificates so we could make copies and now she just needs to make copies of some pictures, send it to mexico and then she can get a marriage license! We are excited. She is such a great lady. She desires so much to do what is right. Sarah had her interview for her baptism on Saturday that evening. She was so nervous. She passed. :)On Thursday we went out on exchanges with Sister Roxann in the Albertson ward. She took us to her friend, Ana and we had a lesson and introduced the Book of Mormon. Her grandma-in-law was there and her church has taught a lot of anti against LDS religion. Ana didn't seem turned off by any of what she said though. She agreed to come to church this sunday, but then her grandma was "sick" and had to go to the doctor. We went to some recent converts who live out in the boonies (Trenton). They are the nicest people. They raise goats and their whole lives are basically dedicated to their goats; and the church. Sister Tervo even writes stories about her goats and relates them to the gospel. She is also a most excellent cook. She is from California. It was soooo good to have western food. And vegetables. I miss vegetables. We made homemade creme bole (or however that is spelled) I was worried. I don't like eggs, but eggs+sugar=good.We had a lesson with another recent convert on friday about recognizing the spirit. That somehow turned into temple work and we talked to her about the temple and doing work for her family there. She is excited to go to the temple. We did some service at the library as well and then we spent the rest of the day tracting. It wasn't a very eventful friday, but never the less, it was fun.Saturday was Sarah's baptism! It went very well. I tried to attach a picture, so hopefully it will come up. She was so nervous, but everything went perfect. Her mom was really touched (she is not a member). She has been anti-ed in the past so, we will keep working with her and try to help her find resolve her concerns and hopefully we will be able to make their family an eternal one! We met with a less active named Ann. She was just recently baptized about 2 months ago and she too, has been anti-ed. We are going to just teach them the lessons over again and help them resolve their concerns along the way. She is a sweet lady. It is so sad to see them be so confused.Sunday was crazy! We went for sacrament in Woodington for Sarah's confirmation. That is my favorite part of missionary work. Then we went for the last half in Albertson (they both have church at 9 am...it is really inconvenient) I talked to Matt's girlfriend and I guess he has been struggling. It breaks my heart to hear that. I keep praying that he will be able to make a wise decision. He hasn't told his parents yet and I think it is weighing him down.We had dinner in Jacksonville with the Newbolds with the Tervo's (recent converts), the Elders, and the Newbold's daugther's boyfriend who is not a member. We watched part of the Christmas devotional and then headed home. It was a busy busy week!I love you all. I miss you all so much.I have learned how powerful the atonement is. All things that seem unfair can be made right through the Atonement. I read Mosiah 15 this week. It was really good!
Love you so much,Sister J