Jan. 23,2011

Dearest Family!

HELLO HELLO! Ha ha, I feel like every time I start a letter the greeting and the first sentence get cheesier and cheesier!  This is gonna be good . . .  so I had to laugh when I read your letters and the comments about how every letter starts with, “this week was so AWESOME!!. . . “ Ha ha, well that’s just how it goes I guess, cause guess what?? ANOTHER AWESOME WEEK! J

We met with the Rowe family like 3 times this week to get Wyatt already for his baptism yesterday. They loved it and so did we. (Except maybe Pat- he might have been a little overwhelmed! J) But the good news is that we got it all done! We had the district leader come to interview Wyatt on Saturday and that went really good. The elders were really excited because this is the first baptism we have had in our district since I’ve been out. And let me tell ya- It was quite the baptism! We invited EVERYBODY and so did the Rowe’s. The chapel was like half full AND it was mostly full of non-members! You should have seen Sis Burnham and I, we thought that we had died and gone to heaven! IT was so great! The program was really good and the spirit was definitely there. Wyatt was so happy and so ready, it was just perfect! Even Pat was smiling, happy and talking about what a great experience it was! Sister Burnham and I and a couple other girls sang, “A Child’s Prayer” and as we sang I couldn’t help but get a little teary-eyed looking at the smile on Wyatt’s face and being so caught up in this special moment with everyone that was there! AWESOME!  After the baptism we had refreshments and Sis Burnham, Sis Rowe and I walked around with pass along cards and Books of Mormon for anyone that was interested. We will just have to wait and see how that goes, but I think that there were definitely some seeds planted and hopefully those people will have the faith and courage they need to ask questions and learn more. J

So, on Wednesday we went to dinner and the Grove family’s home, they are SO CUTE! I LOVE them! They have 7 kids and the oldest is only like 17, so it was just like spending the night with all of you! The kids were so polite and well behaved and adorable. The little boy named Gideon who is like 7 reminded me SO much of my little cowboy! J He gave me a great big hug and stayed right by me all night. We went out to see their green house, (which is so interesting! They have a fish tank hooked up to this garden thing and they grow tomatoes all year round! They don’t ever have to water the plants, they get all the nutrients they need from the water that cycles through the fish tank. I wish I had taken some pictures, maybe next time!) Any ways- so Sister Grove showed us the green house and Gideon was right there with us, on the way back to the house he grabbed my hand and held it the whole way back! Ha ha, adorable, right!? Like I said, I was thinking of Matthew all night!  Man, I miss you all like crazy! But it’s so fun to see how much these families LOVE the missionaries! Two of the little girls made up their own name tags so they could “Be missionaries too!” What a fun family night! They even argued about who got to sit by us at dinner! Ha ha- so much like home, I loved it! J

We went to see Martha this week which we were SO excited for, cause we haven’t seen her since before Christmas. She told us her grandson had been sick and when we first got there he was sleeping. We were just talking and catching up when he woke up. When he woke up though he was NOT a happy camper! He screamed and cried the whole rest of the time that we were there and we couldn’t get a word in! It was really sad! We didn’t get to have a lesson cause we couldn’t even hear each other.  We are going back on Tuesday though, so hopefully he will be all better by then and we can get going! I feel so rushed for time! AHH! Transfers are sneaking up on us! Sis Burnham and I both feel like there is a change coming, but we don’t have any idea what it will be. I guess you never know until we get that phone call! J That’s one thing about a mission, things are ALWAYS changing!

This week we stopped by to see Tom again but we didn’t have a third woman so we couldn’t go in. We got to see his (are you ready for this. . . .) FLOCK OF WILD TURKEYS!! Ha ha! IT was so great! I never realized how HUGE wild turkeys are! Especially compared to all of the ones you see at home, these were huge! I bet the biggest ones came almost up to my arm pit when they stood up all the way. J After that we went to dinner with the Hall’s. Funny thing, we thought about inviting Tom to come to dinner but then we remembered how he is vegan and thought he would be difficult to cook for so we decided against that. (He is so dedicated to veganism that he doesn’t even eat marshmallows or jello cause they have some sort of animal product in them! CRAZY!!) So at dinner we were telling the Halls about Tom and they were so shocked! They couldn’t believe it! Come to find out, the Halls are big time hunters! We went into one of their rooms and they had to have had at least 8 of those stuffed deer heads hanging on the wall! Ha ha, Sister Burnham and I both agreed that if Tom had been there he would have broken down and started crying uncontrollably! Good thing we listened to that warning! J

We have such a great ward here, I have really come to love all of the members! I have to say though, I really admire Ben and all the boys that go around before Sacrament starts and shake everybody’s hand! I have had to learn to do that and I just keep thinking, I had such a great example at home, why didn’t I do this before! It would make it so much easier now!! But, that’s okay, I’m still learning! We had so much help to get everything ready for the baptism and everybody just pitched in and helped, it was great!

Oh- guess what!?!?! Gladys Knight is coming to DETRIOT!!!! Not only is SHE coming, but she is bringing her choir and they are doing a mission fireside for us! I think it is something that the missionary department is sponsoring and we have heard how other missions have done it and seen so much success. We have a bunch of people that are already putting it on their calendars and it’s not even until march! At church yesterday they announced it in Sacrament and I turned to one of our investigators and was like, “Mary, do you know Gladys Knight?” “Yeah . . .” “Well that’s what they are talking about, She is coming to Detroit!” “Wait, the REAL Gladys Knight is coming to DETROIT!?!?!” Yes!! Would you like to come?” She looked at me like “DUH!!!”  LOL! This is going to be an awesome missionary tool. One mission said that they got so many referrals from this, so we are all pumped! J

Well Family! I love you all SUPER MUCHO A LOT X’S 5!! J I pray for you every day and think about you all of the time!  Dad- that sweater sure comes in handy! I have used it quite a bit! (Everybody that I show it to is so impressed that you made it!) J Keep up the good work!

Have fun dress shopping- I can’t wait to see pictures! JJ LOVE you all the BESTEST!

Love,

Lisa