This week has been awesome! We have been able to teach a lot
of people and it makes me so happy:)
We started teaching a lady named Michelle. She is in her
50's and has been married 7 times.. Yes, 7 times but she is so awesome. She has
been wanting to find a new home church and enjoyed the message we shared. We
actually met her tracting and at first didn't want to talk to us. But we told
her we would be quick! She invited us in and ended up talking to us for an
hour. We were able to share the restoration and she really liked it. We loaned
her a copy of the Book of Mormon and had her read the introduction. We went
back two day later and she had read the intro three times as well as all the
testimonies in the front. That morning she didn't feel well and was about to
text us to not come over. Then she had the feeling to pray. So she prayed
that she would feel better so we could still come. And she felt better! It was
so awesome to see her exercise faith so well. We taught her all about baptism.
Sometimes it becomes a touchy subject to talk about the proper baptism in the
south. Because so many people have been baptized and then we come and tell them
that it didn't actually count.. So we taught her that it needs to be done by
the proper authority. She said that it made sense and that she would pray about
it. If she found it to be true she committed to be baptized on the 7th of
December!
Two Places at Once: Texas Arkansas Border
The beginning of the week we had rainy and really cold
weather. Well Wednesday was the worst day. It rain alll day and we had to go
out tracting. I realllly didn't want to go out and work but i have an awesome
companion. We were on our way out and she knew i wasn't in the best mood. The
pumpkin we carved for Halloween was still outside our door and need to be
thrown away. She handed it to me and told me to throw it over the railing. So i
did and it was lots of fun haha I went down and picked up all the pieces. Took
them back up by our apartment and we tried to get them stuck in the tree. It
was fun and helped me be in a better mood so i was ready to go out and
work.
So we went out tracting in this little neighborhood. Because
it was raining no one really wanted to talk to us. But we met a girl named
Felicia. She is 26, married, and pregnant. She invited us in and let us teach
her the beginning of the restoration. We lent her a copy of the Book of Mormon
and asked her to read Moroni chapter 10. We went back the next day and she had
read it! So we went through and talked about it more. She was interested and
wants to keep meeting with us. Later that week we saw her at Walmart and she
came up to us. She was with her husband and introduced him to us. At first we
didn't think she was that interested but we aren't going to turn away someone
who is willing to read from the Book of Mormon!
We have still been teaching Liz everyday! She was having a
hard time remembering what we taught so we got her a notebook and had her take
notes in that. It has seemed to help a lot. You can tell she understands it
better as well. She is still working on keeping the word of wisdom and we
weren't able to start the stop smoking workshop this week so we pushed her
baptism back to the 30 of November. The hardest part though is that her husband
doesn't like her talking with us. He won't let her come to church. And if
her husband won't let her be baptized we can't let her. The church is focused on
the family and so if they are married, the spouse has to be okay with it. So
please pray that his heart will be opened.
Sammy still keeps in contact with us! She is doing great and
loves living with Sister Gower. On Sunday she texted us and it was the best news
ever. She had a really spiritual experience. She said she was crying and was
happy at the same time. The elders explained to her that it was the spirit. She
said she finally received her answer about the Book of Mormon. She knows it is
true and wants to do everything she can to be baptized. She was so happy to
find the truth and that she was going to do everything she can to endure to the
end in faithfulness. It was sooo good to hear that!! The spirit just testified
to me that this is what I'm suppose to be doing. It makes me so happy to know i
was able to help someone, who i came to love, find the truth!
Liz's kids have been collecting pecans for us for the past
week. They have a big tree outside their house and they are all over New
Boston. So we have also been collecting them. Well, we told them we would make
them a pie so we got the recipe and made a pecan pie. We made one for us first
to make sure it tasted good. Then we made another one for Liz and her family.
Then we had more pecans so we made another one for us! It was lots of fun and
the pie was delicious. I will have to send you the recipe.
Shelling Pecans is Messy!
Pecan Pie Mmmm
Saturday we ate dinner with the Caswells. They had asked us
if there was anyone we were teaching that would want to come to dinner. Earlier
that week we received a referral from Mormon.org. It was a guys mom. He lived
in Hooks, which is part of our area, and didn't know how to get a hold of the
missionaries. He doesn't have a phone or internet so his mom just did it for
him. We called her and got more information. We had his address and so we
stopped by Wednesday but he wasn't there. So we talked with the man he is
living with and gave him our phone number. Oh, his name is Jesse. He was
baptized as a kid but has never been active. Later that night he called up from
his roommates phone. We invited him to dinner with the Caswells and he said he
was able to make it! He said he knew where it was and would meet us there. So
we got to the Caswells and he never showed up. He called us during dinner and
told his he couldn't find it. He was already back home and so we told him we
would just come see him after dinner. He was sad he missed dinner but he was
really nice. He has made a lot of wrong choices but wants to strengthen his
relationship with Christ. We are meeting with him again tomorrow.
Sunday was a good day! The lesson in gospel principles was
on the law of chastity and i really didn't want to have to teach it. So earlier
this week i called the man who is suppose to be teaching the class and told him
i wasn't able to teach. So if he wasn't able to make it he need to find someone.
He was there Sunday! That night we met with the Kersey's. They weren't at
church because they didn't wake up on time. So we had a little come to Jesus
meeting. We talked about the importance of church and that they all
individually need to do their part to be up and ready for church. We also
talked about their baptism date. They (the parents) kept putting it off and
when we told them we might be getting transferred this week they decided to
make a decision. So they are suppose to be baptized this Saturday morning! We
are really hoping everything goes as planned.
I love this gospel, the joy it brings me and the joy it
brings those i teach. The Savior is the only way we can make it through this
time. There are going to be hard times. Just like Christ had to drink of the
bitter cup, we will all have bitterness we need to swallow. But Christ is an
example and hope to us that we can all be happy. We can overcome the hard times
and find joy once again in this life.
I love you all and am so grateful for all the prayers and
thoughts. Well this is the last week of this transfer and I can't believe it.
This is all going by soo fast! You won't hear from me until Tuesday or
Wednesday next week. But you will hear from me.
Love, Sister Erika Kelly
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