April 23,212

Dear Family!!

Hello!!! I feel like this week has all kind of been a blur. . . . I'm
looking back trying to remember what we did and kind of coming up with
a blank. Ha ha, we did MISSIONARY WORK!! :) I feel like all of our
days are pretty similar, but SO different! Ha ha. We taught Morgan
again this week and were able to get Kristen Gines to be there with
us. (Kristen is basically my Hero!! I love this girl SO much!! We
spent Christmas with her family and I called you guys from her house.
She is a RM and is just the greatest! She is super busy but finds time
to come to lessons with us. She is really supportive and always
helpful-she's pretty much amazing! :)) So, Kristen and Morgan hit it
off really well! We actually even invited Morgan to be baptized and
she agreed, but then she informed us that she is moving home for the
summer. . . RATS!! That's okay though, cause the Sterling Heights
Elders are going to get an awesome referral! Morgan is the one I told
you about last week, her Mom has cancer and has been really
struggling. It was really sad cause Morgan was super excited to come
to church this week, but then couldn't make it because she had to go
home for a "family emergency." Keep Morgan and her family in your
prayers! I really think that her moving could be a blessing in
disguise and maybe the rest of her family will also listen to the
missionaries and find the peace and comfort that comes from living
the gospel! Morgan is SO Good! I really love that girl! :)

Other news, remember that Christian group I told you about a few weeks
ago? Yeah, we totally got in contact with them! It was really cool,
Sister Thompson and I were finishing up our lunch and making a few
quick phone calls, then we were going to head and to go contacting. As
we stood up to leave, this girl sitting at a table behind us waves us
down and asked, "HEY!! Are you the missionaries that were talking to
us the other day? I had some questions, do you have a few minutes that
I can talk to you?" Of course we sat right down with her and taught
her about the restoration. She is very sincere and wanted to really
know what sets us apart as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints. She only had a few minutes, but when we were done
she asked if we could meet again the next night. It was really sweet!
The next night she brought several friends from her Christian group
and we were able to introduce all of them to the Book of Mormon. At
first it was really rough cause they were asking all these questions
and wanted proof from the Bible. We tried to answer their questions
that way, but they weren't satisfied. After a few minutes of this I
realized we were not going to get anywhere and that we weren't really
following the spirit. So, we switched it up a little. First we were
able to testify of Christ, build on the common ground that we all had
faith in Christ, then we introduced the Book of Mormon in that light,
that it helped us learn more about Christ as it testified of him, his
life and his love for all of us! We ended up in Alma 32, explaining
how this is an experiment of faith that we have to try out. God has
promised us that when we ask in faith, he will give us the answers
that we are looking for! We both tried to really testify, and it made
a huge difference!! Now instead of attacking their faith or arguing
over what the Bible says, we left it up to them to ask God. It was so
much more effective. I love how as we follow promptings, everything
works out so much better! It reminded me of that scripture in D&C
about how if we don't have the spirit, we SHALL NOT teach! Yup, I
definitely have a testimony of that principle! :)

This week we had interviews with President Holmes. I can't tell you
enough how much I love him and Sister Holmes! They are so good!! In my
interview as we were talking, President encouraged me to keep working
hard, be more faithful and have patience! (I was telling him about how
we had been promised that we could baptize once a month and I felt
like we had been working hard and had no one to baptize this month! I
really want to baptize, that is my purpose to help others come unto
Christ and I felt like we hadn't had any success!) It was a really
good reminder for me to be more faithful. He told me to talk to Elder
Davis about faith. So that night after planning we called him. He
simply testified about how God puts us in a certain place at that time
for a reason and he felt like finding that reason was demonstrating
faith. It has really helped me this week to "Find the reason I'm
here!" It's amazing what a simple change of attitude can do. As I've
tried to focus on finding that reason I think more about my Savior and
what he would be doing if he were right here. After all, I am a
representative of Jesus Christ so I should be doing what he would be
doing. I've seen how much more effective this is in all of our daily
activities! We find more potentials that are sincerely interested, our
lessons are MUCH better and our unity has increased so much! I think
that is going to be a theme for the rest of my mission, to find the
reason that God put me here! :) In one of our recitations, we say, "By
revelation I have been selected as a PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF JESUS
CHRIST. . . " I'm taking this to heart, I will be a DO-er, I will be
more faithful, more obedient, more caring, more loving, more focused
on others and more Christ-like!

We are excited for another week full of finding new investigators
because now that the semester is over, all the ones we have met are
leaving! But, this is God's work, he is in charge and he will take
care of us!

I hope that you are all doing so good! Good luck to Rach, Di and Joe
this week with finals, and to the rest of the Chillens with the school
year coming to a close!! :) I'm glad that you guys finally got the
letter i mailed last week! :) Thanks for all that you do! I love you
all so, SO much!!! :)