Hola mi familia y mi amigos, feliz cinco de mayo!

Hola mi familia y mi amigos, feliz cinco de mayo!


So things here in White House have been kinda slow with us not knowing
the people here and not knowing really where we're going, but The Lord
has blessed us so much!

Tuesday- we had the opportunity to help out at the bishop's
storehouse, and just seeing all the people there that were willing to
help was so amazing. I've found that pretty much every person here is
nice... They may not believe the same way that we do, but they truly
love their savior and I have learned way more than I ever thought I
would from the people, and I hope to continue learning for the
duration of my mission. :)

Wednesday- not a lot of things happened on Wednesday, but we were able
to ride our bikes for the first time. I'm not going to lie, It was
pretty darn horrifying at first, but after a while it became a lot of
fun. While biking, I couldn't help but think of how grateful we should
be to even have bicycles. I would think of all those missionaries that
started off with nothing but their own two feet to take them where
they needed to go. After searching for new investigators in all the
different neighborhoods, we were able to see that at least 90% of the
people here are baptist, and apparently there is a class offered here
that supposedly teaches people what to do to get rid of the Mormon
missionaries... Challenge accepted. :)

Thursday- we moved! Because we lived on a highway out of town with a
part time car, our mission president thought it necessary to move...
and thank goodness. We definitely feel a lot safer riding on streets
instead of highways. We had some of the members and the elders in our
ward come and help us. And even though we hardly knew any of them,
they were more than willing to help. I love people.

Friday- we had such a successful day! This day was probably my
favorite of the week. We went out finding, and we happened upon a man
that had once been a member, but hasn't gone in years. It turned out
that he worked as a part-time custodian at the church, and he saw that
the only way that he could keep the job was to join. He told us that
he had gone to temple and had done all his home teaching, but that his
testimony had just lacked. After a good discussion and some service
for his sick wife, we were able to convince him to try coming to
church one more time to see how it was. He held back a little bit, but
luckily his wife was more than willing to come and try it out. Also, I
got free pie. It was a good day.

Saturday- we had an appointment with a less-active woman who hadn't
come to church in over 5 years. She had told us that she was raised in
the church, but that she seemed to only run off of her parents
testimonies and not her own. After a good discussion about the Book of
Mormon, she said, "ya know, even though I haven't been to church in
years, you missionaries never seem to give up on me... I feel like my
ancestors are trying to bring me back, and I think it's working." Both
me and Sister Talbert's hearts practically exploded with joy, and we
were able to set a return appointment :). Later that night we went to
go see a member, and it turned out that she was having all the YSAs
over for a dinner and lesson and she asked us to teach it. The lesson,
even though it wasn't well-planned, was awesome and the spirit was
definitely there. We discovered after the lesson that 2 of the people
in the room were less-actives and that this had been the first church
related activity that they had gone to in years. Coincidence? I think
not.

Sunday- the less active and his nonmember wife came to church! It was
perfect top, because all of the testimonies shared were so beautiful
and we could just see that they truly felt the spirit too. They
couldn't stay for class, but they said that they would definitely come
next week. MIRACLE! Later that night we went over to see a man whose
name was on the list that the elders that served here before us left.
It was kind of late, so we didn't really expect to go in, but to our
great surprise he let us in and said, "ya know why I let you in? I saw
your name tag." Now that doesn't usually happen... Turns out this guy
has been taking the lessons for 14 years and has had 34 sets of
missionaries in his home. He gave us food, talked about his religious
past (where he told us that he had defended our church multiple times
in his church), and he got his wife to drive us home. Coolest guy
ever.

I love you all a whole bunch, and don't forget to share the gospel. :)


--Sister P.


First day on the bike!