Dearest Family and Friends,
Greetings from Deep Run, NC! Not much is new in these neck of the woods. The weather was nice this week aaand it was a good week. Sister M is doing great. She is great so you know, they just go hand in hand I suppose.
Last Monday we took a trip to Kinston. We drove our very muddy vehicle to the carwash and washed it twice. It still has some mud on it after the second run through. (sigh). I attached a picture of the muddy vehicle for you. We made our weekly run to Wal-mart and then went to JC Penny. I like that store. We (sis M and I) have been choosing a "scripture of the week" every week. This week's was Isaiah 41:10. I would suggest reading and then memorizing, but I'll let you use your agency. :]
We had great plans for Tuesday. Unfortunately, Satan also does daily planning and all of our appointments fell through. However, we were able to contact a referral and we set up some appointments with recent converts and former investigators. We had a huge blessing this week. One of the sisters that served in this area, Sister Christensen (now Sister Taylor) came back to visit. We decided to ask her for referrals and she gave us a LOT of referrals. She was there a whole week and it was wonderful! She had some pretty funny stories and she actually served in Deep Run twice so, she knew the area really, really well. Blessing? Oh yes.
Wednesday's district meeting was about having charity and faith in the area book. We read 2 Nephi 33 and likened it to the area book. We found a good scripture that may or may not have been a rebuking scripture in 3 Nephi 23:10-13. Afterwards, sister Matthews and I talked about how we wanted to turn this area around. We called it, "raise your vision." We set some goals for what we want this area to be like in six months and then set some more goals for what we are going to do to get it to that point. Basically what it came down to was asking referrals from everyone and getting the members more involved in missionary work than they already are. We are still working on some other ideas that are "out of the box" sorts of things. We took Sister Heath (that went to district meeting with us a few weeks ago) out on exchanges. She is getting ready to go on a mission to Houston, TX at the end of March. We met a man who was less active. He is in a Lynrd Skynrd tribute band. It was a VERY long doorstep appointment almost entirely about Lynrd Skynrd. I think he might be having a mid-life crisis...bless his heart.
Thursday we had the best weekly planning session ever! It was also the longest weekly planning session I have ever had in my life. 7 hours later we finished. (whew!) BUT, we really considered all of the needs and concerns of those we are teaching and I am confident it will pay off in the end. We also had an appointment with the Turner family. They are still having a rather difficult time with commitments and so forth. We talked about enduring to the end and what we need to do in order to qualify for the celestial kingdom. They made specific goals for where they are struggling and we finally figured out a way that they can read their scriptures! They are going to put their Book of Mormons on their dinner plates so when they get them out of the cupboard they will remember to read a scripture and then say a prayer before they eat. They came up with that idea all on their own too! I hope it will work for them.
On Friday we went and did service at the library. Tasha (the less active) was there. I love her. She has had a lot of trials in life and I think it is amazing how strong she is. She is starting to come back to church and asked about how she could move her records and what time church started and so forth. It was really good. We shelved books (who knew that you could re-learn how to do the Dewey decimal system on your mission?) and then made some valiant attempts to contact some referrals. Afterwards, we had dinner with the strouds (ward mission leader) in Woodington. Our appointment with Olivia and Miguel fell through so we went to Claire's. Guess what? She has an appointment to go to Raleigh on Tuesday (tomorrow) and get her paperwork started for a passport so she will have a picture ID to get married with! We are really happy for her. She is super excited too. Guess what else? When we went over there, her boyfriend was in the back room on the telephone. (He usually hides in the back room because he is "shy" and won't come out) Claire told us to be really quiet so he wouldn't know that we were there. We were and then he came out! He introduced himself to us and then he sat down. We talked for a bit and Itzel (Claire's four year old) said the prayer. It was so good. We invited him to come to church on Sunday and he said he would consider it.
Saturday we went to Claire's baby shower. They made these funny little pins that are supposed to be diapers, but they were far too lacy to look like diapers. Anyways, we had some really good legit Mexican food. I was stuffed. We were able to talk to some people there about the church. Claire's sister, Araceli was there. She had taken a few lessons in the past and we are hoping to meet with her soon. We had a lesson with Denise H., a recent convert. She is great! She loves the gospel principles manual and loves the church. We had a good lesson with her about enduring to the end. I found this really great quote in the Ensign from Pres. Monson. It says, "Decisions determine destiny. You can't make an eternal decision without eternal consequences." So basically, everything we do matters if we are planning on enduring to the end faithfully. We pulled most of what we talked to her about from the talk, "Choose Eternal Life" from the last conference. Good stuff! We had an appointment with Nathan at the Cottons (members) in Beullaville that evening. We decided we wouldn't brave the muddy road this time and parked at a Bojangles' and then had them come pick us up. The lesson we had with Nathan was sooo good! We talked about recognizing the spirit and then watched Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Resto. He was basically speechless at the end. We had him write down thoughts, impressions, questions during the movie and talked about them after. He said he doesn't know how it couldn't be true. The spirit was so strong. We invited him to consider being baptized. He said he would need to do some serious reading and praying, but that he would consider it. Great lesson. Great kid. The gospel is great.
Sunday we went to Albertson (all-ber-sun). Testimony meeting was really good and then I got a little distracted in sunday school and found some good scriptures about the "refiner's fire" (Isaiah 48:10; Zechariah 13:9; Malachi 3:2-3; 1 Nephi 20:10. It was neat. The great refiner is Jesus Christ according to the Bible dictionary. I love the bible dictionary. I think I would like to read the whole thing at some point in my life. Anyways, no one came to church :( Our appointment for the evening caved , but it was okay. We've got a great week lined up and we're going to work our tails off!
I love you all. The church is true. I know that. I hope yall have a wonderful week and I am so grateful for all of your love and support.
With all my love,
Sister J
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