The Authority of God

What a wonderful week full of inspirational words from men who have been called of God! I hope we can all take the time to really ponder their words and do all we can to allow our Father in Heaven to mold us. 

This week has been wonderful! We met with Cody and Heather on Friday and were able to answer some questions. It really cooled off here and they had a bonfire in their backyard so we taught them out there, it was fun! Cody had done some research and was getting a little skeptical. He doubted some of Joseph Smiths choices and didn't fully know what to think. But we explained more of his story and told him to pray about it all. We committed them to come to a session of general conference. Heather still isn't sure and wanted Cody to go first to see what church was like. So we encouraged him to come. Well he did!! He came to the church and watched the Sunday afternoon session. He kept shifting in his seat and I was so nervous to see what he would think. But as soon as it finished he just sat there for awhile. It was only him and the missionaries in the chapel so we just waited for him to say something. He looked over at us and says, "This is it. I feel at home. And I know that those men were speaking with the authority of God." YAY!!!!! It was so exciting to listen to him bare such a sweet testimony of the truth that he was discovering. He is so excited to come back and to continue to learn more about the gospel.

While we were driving home Sister Dobbins and I were talking about how we need to help Heather to understand the gospel. We need her to be involved or it is going to be hard for Cody to be fully committed. As we were talking the phone rang, and it was Heather! She doesn't usually sit in and listen to the lessons with Cody so she just hears bits and pieces. But she told us that Cody came home from the church and loved it. He had shared his experience with her and now she wants to meet with us one on one. She wants to understand why her husband is so excited about this. The spirit of the gospel really is contagious! We are going to visit with her on Wednesday and answer the questions she has for us.  It has been wonderful to watch how the Lord has blessed this family and really prepared them little by little! He has a plan for us all! 

Carl has also been doing well. He has been working crazy hours and so we haven't been able to meet with him a ton this week. But we saw him Saturday evening. We asked how it was going with him praying about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. He said he hadn't really taken the commitment as serious as he wanted to. So he recommitted to pray about it. It was nice to see him make the commitment with himself. He really does want to know for himself. We taught about recognizing the spirit and how important it is. If we don't know how the spirit speaks with us then we don't know what we are looking for. We went and taught him Sunday evening as well. We weren't sure what we were going to teach and the first thing he asked us was if we could drink caffeine. So we taught the word of wisdom. He drinks energy drinks and smokes and he feels guilty about both. We asked him why he does those things and he honestly couldn't give us a good reason. He just drinks them because... and I was taught all growing up that because isn't an answer haha and he smokes because he is bored. He knows he needs to stop but he couldn't make a definite decision to stop just yet. We told him to pray about it and ask the Lord for strength. So please keep him your prayers!

He was also able to watch conference! He watched it at home on his phone though. He said he enjoyed and wants to watch the other sessions. It is amazing the spirit that we can feel as we listen to those who have been called to lead Christ's church. 

We also went on exchanges with the Clinton sisters this week. I got to be in Clinton again! It is always fun to go back there. I was with sister Bradshaw, she is a new missionary and we had a lot of fun! We had about 30 minutes before an appointment and so we went and tried some potentials from when I was there. Nothing came of them, but it was fun to go back to those same houses. To end the day we went did some service for a member that was moving out. We helped them move things around and I actually got a Duck Dynasty Sweatshirt out of it! They had a deer head hanging on the wall and weren't going to take it with them. One of their sons said, "If you know someone who wants it they can have it." Sister Bradshaw and I looked at each other and said."We will take it!" After we finished helping them they took us out to dinner and it was delicious. They took us to a southern style buffet and i wish i could have just kept eating! haha That evening we and our companions went and left the dear head on the zone leaders door step! haha the best part is they were so excited and are now working on getting it hung up in their apartment! 

Well that is all for this week! I am again so grateful for the restored gospel and that we had the wonderful opportunity to listen to the leaders of Christ's church. It is such a great time to reset some goals and strive to become better disciples of our Lord and Savior. 

I love y'all! and hope you have a fabulous week.

Love, Sister Erika Kelly 

Flu Shots, why don't they take my insurance?!