Look for the Bright moments in Life.

Hello from Deep Run!

I hope you all had a splendid week! There are lots of good things going on in these neck o' the woods. The weather here is kind of ridiculous. It was wonderful weather for part of the week (70's and 80's) and then on Friday we had a downpour and it has been much cooler since then. (40's and 50's). At least it's not freezing anymore!

We had an eventful Monday last week. Sister Matthews' back has been causing some problems so we made a trip to the chiropractor. We were there for a VERY long time; like 2 hours. That is a long time to sit and do nothing. The doctor we went to is a member in the Kinston ward. After the chiropractor we made a very quick shopping excursion before our preparation day expired. I guess we didn't really do much, but it just takes a long to go from one place to the next so it adds up!

Tuesday our appointment with Denise fell through. She has been struggling to deal with all of the adversity that has come up since we have been meeting with her. I learned something about this from her. When we focus a lot on the negative things of life, we will undoubtedly experience more opposition. There is a quote somewhere out there by Pres. Hinckley that says that we should not seek out the storms of life, but to look for the sunshine. I hope we can meet with her soon and help her understand that God's hand is in all things and to focus more on looking for the tender mercies of the Lord. The Turners cancelled on us and said that they would not be able to meet with us for the next two weeks. :( Brother Turner is having some health issues that are making it difficult to meet with us. However, we were able to meet with them on Thursday and had a good lesson about the word of wisdom with them. This week has been a "word of wisdom week."

Wednesday we had a really good district meeting about inviting people to make changes in their lives. Most people won't make changes unless they are invited to do so. We learned how to help a few of our investigators from the role plays that we did and read from Moroni 7. We talked about the importance of maintaining daily contact with our investigators because Satan also maintains daily contact with our investigators. I really do wish that I could elbow him in the neck sometimes. (sigh). We had the best lesson ever with Clara. We read the talk, "The Power of Covenants" by Elder Christofferson and talked to her about making covenants and how important it was and the blessings that come from making and keeping covenants. She promised us that she would come to church this week and that she would make an appointment so that her boyfriend can get his picture ID and they can be married. She hasn't had her baby yet. I don't think God will allow that to happen until she gets this business figured out with being married and all. :)

We had a good lesson with LA, Beverly on Thursday. I got eaten alive by mosquitos...in February! Unreal. She has been taking her lunch break and going to the Kinston ward so she can at least take the sacrament. It is amazing how much her countenance has changed since she has been doing that. She is so much happier too. Afterwards, we met with RC, Jennifer and talked about enduring to the end. We watched a mormon message from Sister Dalton about running a marathon and how we are never left alone even though we may feel like that sometimes. She is incredible. I love her lots.

Friday we met with the Greg and Miranda. Greg is hilarious. We talked about faith and he doesn't see the need to change his life because everything seems to be going fine as it is right now. We talked a little bit about commandments and he doesn't understand why keeping the commandments are so important. We are looking forward to teaching him about the "why" of the commandments. There really is no point in doing something unless you understand why you are doing it.

Saturday was the adult session of Stake conference. Jennifer gave us a ride there. It was hilarious. The talks were great. We sang "Follow the Prophet" for the rest hymn and I think we all need to go back to primary. No one was following the conductor and it ended up failing partway through. We were all dying of laughter. The stake presidency made up one of the verses. It goes as follows,
"Thomas is a prophet, prophet of the world.
Visits every nation, bringing them God's word.
With a sense of humor, he looks you in the eye,
go about the rescue is his battle cry."
It was probably the funniest scene I have ever seen in my life in a stake conference. I love the Kinston stake. I got see a lot of people from Greenville...since they're in the same stake. Brittany who was just baptized like a month ago was there. She has changed so much. It is amazing how the gospel changes lives. She is going strong. She touched my heart when she told me that she was thankful that I had come into her life. I told her that she had changed me more than I had probably done for her. Anyways, it was a nice confirmation to know that no effort is wasted in missionary work. I got to see sis. Carman too! It was like a family reunion.

Sunday we had a broadcast and Elder Scott spoke. (I met his brother on Saturday night. He is the temple president here). There were a lot of good things learned there. Clara and Greg both came to church. :) Oh, I also ate corn that had been in the freezer for at least 5 years according to sister Nanny Mae. I wouldn' t recommend keeping corn that way. She makes me laugh.

Well, my time is up, I love you all and hope you have a great week. Thank you for all you do! The church is true.

Love you!

Love,
Sister J