Daddy-O,
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| Yay for the temple! What is with the matching skirts? Can someone enlighten me? LOL> |
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| The note left on the sisters car. |
Guess this week the saying "When it rains, it storms" really came into affect. I'm really sorry to hear about all the car problems... That seems so crazy that they'd all go at once like that. Wow. Well, I know there's not a whole lot I can do to help (which is hard sometimes) but I DO want you to know that you are the best dad ever! And that even when you might not feel like it, you really do a more than spectacular job at being a worthy and wonderful priesthood holder, father and husband. You are such a hard worker and great example of what a disciple of Christ is. I AM THANKFUL FOR YOU POPS! We had a great week, SO much better than last week! Which is a miracle in and of itself. I think the thing that has really stuck out to me this week was the importance and blessing of eternal families. Here's a couple reasons why. Every Tuesday we see Sister Torgerson, a less active lady due to her health, and we teach her the gospel principles lessons. She loves her family so much and a few of her grandkids and son have been going through a lot in their marriages or have been divorced. It's been really hard on her but one thing she always tells us is how thankful she is that she was able to do her and her husbands temple work. She is so loving and always gives us these hugs that are to die for. She lives in an old folks home and doesn't have much contact with others, which is so sad, but every time we are there she always says how loved she feels and always makes sure we are going to come back the next week. I am thankful that even though Im far from you like Sister Torgerson is far from her family, that I can still feel your love and support. After we see Sister Torgerson we see Linda Sue Carroll (I always say her full name or at least Linda Sue because I think it's adorable). She usually teaches us how to crochet and we teach her the lessons. This past Tuesday we talked a lot about the Atonement and the Plan of Salvation. She is starting to gain her testimony again. She told us that for her and her husband it was only a matter of time before they starting coming back. She has started to realize that she wants and needs the gospel in her life again. We love her so much and are thrilled at the progress she is making. She hasn't let missionaries in for the last 5 years or so and hasn't been to church in 20.. This past Friday her brother in law passed away, the relief society called and offered to take her meals, she was so touched and thankful for the support of the church. I am thankful that I have a FOREVER family and that I know we will be together even after death. Carissa Fisher (our most progressing investigator) has been doing SO well. We have taught her every day this week and on Tuesday we taught chastity. We had a less-active come with us, whom we also teach, and she was able to relate so well with her. She was able to share her testimony of changing to become better and doing what the Lord has asked because it leads to happiness. It has been a little challenging for Carissa to WANT to live the law of chastity. She has been recently divorced (officially as of four months ago) and has been dating Larry (her current boyfriend) for about two months. She said that it would be really hard for her but that she's had experiences where she has felt really used and really heartbroken because of decisions she's made related to chastity. It was hard for us to necessarily relate to her situation from a missionary standpoint, much less two teenage girls who obviously haven't lived very long. But our focus was how you could either have instant gratification now or you could have someone who loves you so much that he wants to spend forever with you and will work with you to becoming better every day. We explained how doing it the Lords way bring so much more happiness, and happiness that will LAST, not just diminish the next morning. It was a really great experience and helped me to realize how grateful I was to have parents that did it the right way, the eternal way, Gods way. And after we were done with the lesson I felt like I had an even stronger desire to do it that same way, that I want someone who wants to do things the Lord's way and will love me enough to want to be together for eternity, not just a night, or a year, or a couple years or till death do us part. A couple days later she was feeling kind of overwhelmed with living the commandments and so we offered for the Elders to come give her a blessing. She said she would really love that and so two sets of Elders came and gave her a blessing. In the blessing it talked a lot about her family and how the gospel could strengthen and uplift her and her three children who were all looking to her to set the example. After the blessing she was very much so at peace and she felt like she could handle it. After the Elders left we were sitting on her couch with her and her 8 year old son came over and said "Mommy I want one of those.." and put his hands on his head and said "Ryan Fisher I want you to know that I love you and you're an awesome boy." It was really cute and funny, not in a blasphemous way but an innocent and adorable way. So we sat and talked to Ryan about the priesthood a little bit and about how he could be a missionary one day. (This was the first time we ever met Ryan) And he said he wanted to be a missionary and wanted to be baptized like his mom. We were both kind of taken back by that and since he was really serious about it, we moved Carissa's baptism date to April 5th and she and her son Ryan will now be baptized together. I LOVE FAMILIES AND SEEING THEM PROGRESS TOGETHER. That was certainly a highlight of the week. Wednesday we were able to go to the temple and that was a really great experience and when I was sitting in the celestial room I was able to read my Patriarchal blessing. I kind of felt overwhelmed with how much love I felt from my Heavenly Father. It was a really powerful experience and one that I'm thankful I had. Friday was a little rough, we had weekly planning and for whatever reason Sister Grenfell and I were just struggling. We were feeling kind of homesick and so we talked for a good hour and a half just about things we missed, people we missed. I probably talked about Kenyon for a good 45 minutes, I missed him a LOT this week. But by the end of it we just decided that it was okay to just cry it out because it just meant that we had really great families who love us and pray for us and do so much for us. So we pulled ourselves together and got back to work! Later that night, after a really great lesson with a family of investigators (the lopez's, WHO ARE COMING TO CHURCH THIS SUNDAY, BOOYAH) We saw a letter on our car. It was from the Elders in our ward and it was really encouraging and made us feel so much better! (I'll attach a pic) It's a great feeling to know others are watching out for you and want you to be happy! I celebrated 2 months of being out this past week and its just FLYING by! WAY to fast! I am loving every minute, even the ones that are hard to love, and am so thankful for all your love and prayers! I LOVE YOU DAD! I will be praying for you especially this week and I hope you can feel the Lord helping you through this next week. You're the MANTIS!
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