Hello my wonderful, lovely family and friends!
This week was bettter than last, but it was still a pretty rough week. On Monday we rode our bikes down to have a lesson with the Pellegrin's, and we were able to teach them the simple steps of finding someone to teach. When we have this lesson with people, we call it the Gonzales visit (Because Elder Walter Gonzales has asked us to visit with members about this). Elder Gonzales was trying to figure out how members and missionaries could share the gospel more effectively, and it comes down to 3 simple steps.
#1-Find common ground...that is super easy...we have some sort of common ground with everyone if you think about it!
#2-Give them hope through the restoration of the gospel...
#3-INVITE them!--this is the most important, because we can talk with people about the gospel all day long, but if we don't invite them to do anything, how are we going to help them?
So we taught the Pellegrin's a Gonzales lesson, and it went really well. Their grandson Brian, who lives with them, actually gave a card for mormon.org to one of his friends at school! That was awesome to hear about that. So we just need to help Grandma and Grandpa next!
On Tuesday we had a really good lesson with Ermaine. We taught her about the Restoration of the Gospel (which she'd already been taught, but we were reviewing it), and it went really well. Then we got in to talking about some of her concerns. Our members were connecting with her really well, and it was neat to see them really care about her. It was a good lesson, but it kind of felt like we had started a therapy session because we talked for a couple hours...we are only supposed to be with people for 30-45 minutes...sometimes that is REALLY hard.
On Wednesday we were able to take Sister Walker out with us, and I think that was really good. She came with us to go to an appointment with a woman named Gabriella, and she wasn't there, but we talked to her 17 year old daughter for a while, and we had a little lesson with her. I think she is actually really receptive! We are possibly going to go and try them tonight. So because that fell through, we went tand tried a woman named Tonja! I mentioned her a while ago, and we had a really good lesson with her! I think she is very open and receptive, but mostly when her famliy is not there. She is in her 40's and she lives at home with her mom and brother. I think they give a her a lot of flack. But hey, she had read the Book of Mormon since we had seen her last!
On Friday Ermaine had a priesthood blessing, and it was really neat to hear the counsel in there. Sister Erbe (one of her fellowshippers) called her on Saturday night to see how she was doing, and Ermaine had told her she didn't feel anything. So Sister Erbe asked her what she remembered was said...Ermaine said that she remembered that her Heavenly Father loved her, and that her sincere prayers would be answered. It was really neat to hear her say that. She has a hard time feeling God's love and she doesn't feel like her prayers will be answered. So I think that was a really neat miracle. There were a bunch of other neat things said in that blessing, and it is really neat to see how Heavenly Father is so accutely aware of us. I love it.
After that lesson we had to go in because I was sick sick sick. Thursday night we were riding home, and it was like my joints got suddenly achey, and I felt paralyzed! That night it hurt to move. Friday morning it took all the energy I had to ride my bike the 2 miles to the church, and after that, I just wanted to cry. We ended up coming in, and I took my temperature, and it was at 100.3. I had aches and chills and fever... WONDERFUL! Ha, well, we had an appointment later that evening, so I had to get up after a nap, and we went and had a REALLY good lesson with Sister Boshard and we committed her to invite someone to the Relief Society Birthday social in the next week. And she did! So we will see what happens in the upcoming week. Later that night I did start to feel better and I have been feeling better each day. Slowly but surely. I'm almost to 100 perecent! Yay!
Saturday morning it was raining cats and dogs! Holy moly it was crazy! We put garbage bags over our skirts in an effort to keep them dry, and it worked for the most part! I'll send some pictures a little later. So we went tracting...yes, with garbage bags over our skirts, and we waded through about 4 inches of icky murky brown water. I am so glad that you bought me those black water proof shoes! Anyway, we met a reallly cool guy named Louis. We invited him to come to church, and we are hopefully going to go back and teach he and his wife another day. He lives right down the street from us! Later we rode our bikes to go contact this lady we met at a store while business contacting. Her name is Jackie, and she is just a sweetheart! I love her to death! We will probably go back in a couple of days to see what she thought of the materials and the website. We tried to get an appointment but not quite. She just adores us though! She thinks it is so cool what we do. People come in to her store and she's like "Hey! These girls are amazing! They are missionaries with the Latter-Day Saints!" Thank you Jackie! She is wonderful! Hopefully you will hear more about her later.
After dinner that night, we went to go see Amanda Odimegwu! We had a really good lesson about Lehi's dream and we were able to teach her nieces while we were there. And we are actually going to start teaching her niece who is 12! We just need to talk to her mother first...I learned my lesson with Shai...Her name is Tamia, and she is adorable! I love her! Anyway, that was probably the best part of our week.
I know the church is true, and I am so grateful for you my wonderful family! I am grateful to be serving my mission, and I know that my Heavenly Father loves me and is very aware of me. Thanks for all you do to support me!
I love you!
Love,
Sister Earl
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