Technology

For the record, my mom wrote the last post. Her cheesiness level is a bit higher than mine (but I still love you, mom!). When I first got home, I really felt out of touch technology-wise as I haven't used any of it except basic email for a year and a half. It actually took me a while to feel like it was ok for me to spend my time on such things. I still answered my phone "Hello, this is Sister Johnson" for the first week or so, but I think I'm almost back to normal (if my mental states could ever really be described as such). I had a great welcome home present my first full day home - designed to re-introduce me into the advances and uses of technology - a photo radar ticket. If you consider that a real speeding ticket (which I've been told is debatable) it will be my first in my whole life! To say the least, I didn't quite appreciate the present. So, to sum it all up, I think I'm ready to keep up my blog again.

I'm Home!

My family was all prepared to meet me at the airport gates

Unfortunately, the plane arrived half an hour early so they missed me!

So I had to call them on a pay phone and let them know I was already at the baggage claim area

I began to wonder if maybe the RM movie wasn't so far off!

But they were ALL there in force - even Brian & Kira drove down from Utah.

I guess they really do love me!

Coming Home!

Hey ya'll,

Figures, the computer had to do it to me one last time for old times’ sake.... it just erased my whole email...

But that's OK, because I'll see you in a couple days. It's OK to be excited, Mom, because I'm ready to come home too. Not that I haven't loved my mission, but man, am I tired. I've never been one to handle stress very well and the pace of the mission sure wears on you. If this is preparing me to be a mother, I don't think I'm going to handle it very well.... :)

We've had a busy week and I've said all my goodbyes. Everyone wants me to come back and visit, but most don't believe I really will - so I'll have to prove them all wrong after the next couple months.

But besides all the normal, amazing missionary experiences this week, I think my favorite thing this week was our garbage can. Last Wednesday it disappeared, and we couldn't figure out where it went, and we were just fixin' to go buy a new one when it suddenly reappeared yesterday on our doorstep. If the Elders didn't live so far away, I would suspect them, but as it is, we have no clue.

Well, see you in two days! I gotta go pack. ~Melissa

Biking Sisters

Ickle me, Pickle me, Tickle me:

Look! And I looked and beheld a real missionary – complete with bike, backpack, and helmet. We even had our own little lunch packed up on the back. And doesn’t Sis. Bell look like a mannequin? We thought so. Doesn’t my helmet make me look like I belong in World War II?

So, I guess by the time you get this, you’ll be seeing me in a couple days – ready or not, here I come! My family is always in my prayers!

I love you! Melissa

Easter Baptism!

My Easter was great! So good – and a bit stressful at the beginning, but it all turned out just perfect. Of course, first thing we had to do when we got the church building Sunday morning was to start filling the font – and I didn’t scald anyone this time! I was so proud of myself. Then it was really funny because as the Branch President was announcing the program, he got everything mixed up because the choir was singing as well as a special number from us later, and so everyone was correcting him and he didn’t know who to listen to. So first we sang in the choir, (which we make up almost half…), then I spoke, and I don’t know what has happened to me, but I was able to speak for my 20 minutes (actually, I think I went over) and wasn’t even all that nervous, didn’t write out my talk, only made a few notes, and was actually pretty coherent. I was amazed at myself. And everyone said they were really touched, so it sounds like it turned out pretty good. I, of course, spoke on the Atonement and how we make it a part of our lives. It had really stuck out to me in General Conference about how the ordinances of the gospel are how we access God’s power in our lives. So really it is only through the ordinances of baptism, partaking of the sacrament, etc. that the Atonement can really apply to us (at least the overcoming sin part – the resurrection part is a sure deal). If we don’t participate in those ordinances, no matter how much we repent and keep the commandments and do good and have faith, it won’t really do us any good. It’s just like getting out the utensils, washing your hands and cutting the cake, and then not eating it. We really do have so much to rejoice over because of the Atonement!

So after I spoke, Sister Bell and I sang, “How Great Shall Be Your Joy”. The accompanist messed up a little, but it turned out really well. I haven’t sung that as a duet for a long time. Then Sister Bell spoke, and she tied in the Atonement with humility and missionary work and did an amazing job. We then had to teach Gospel Principles class. And then after Relief Society, we had to run around and make sure everything was set up and ready for the baptism. And of course take pictures with all three of them all in white. So perfect. The actual baptisms were a little bit awkward, just with having three people in the font and one person saying the prayer and someone else dunking. But it all worked out and it was really special for Jerry to be able to participate in the baptisms of his wife and son. Then, this branch doesn’t really know how to do anything when it comes to food small. We had thought we’d have a few snacks, but it ended up being a whole luncheon. So funny.

And all throughout the day, we just had a million and one people trying to talk to us about different things, and I just couldn’t keep it all straight, and I just had to tell some people, can we talk about this later. But after everything was over, we got a chance to relax a bit and we had dinner over at one of our investigators houses – Bill and Diane. I just love them, they are so funny. It was a beautiful day, too. We sat on Bill and Diane’s front porch swing for a bit just enjoying the day. I really have been converted to that “front porch sittin’.” Oh, and we got so many little Easter gifts and baskets from different people, it’s a good thing you didn’t send anything…I’d never be able to eat it. The members here are just so thoughtful.

We were also really excited that there were several less active members that we have been visiting that came to church. We were especially happy to see this one family, who we had an especially powerful visit with the day before. They had recently experienced the death of a friend and it really hit them hard and they realized that they needed to come back to church, even though they aren’t perfect and have word of wisdom issues. The mom even told us at the end that she didn’t have any church clothes to wear anymore, but she was going to be there if she had to come in jeans. And she was, but not in jeans, she found some dress pants. I think they were really touched by the meeting.

We were also excited to see one of the Tuttle’s neighbors come to church with them and stay for the baptism. They are already being such good missionaries. When we went over to their house last night, Christian had a friend over who he’d been talking to about the gospel, and we taught him a little first lesson. So maybe we’ll have a little deacon’s quorum in a little while if Christian keeps inviting his friends like he has. So cute. I hope they call a young men’s president soon….

The rest of last week was just really busy with teaching appointments and what not. I’m so glad things have been so busy, so it’s easier to stay focused. We already have a pretty full week this coming week, too, so I’m happy about that. We also went to a little Catholic service called “Stations of the Cross” on Good Friday with our Irish investigator Cecelia. It was interesting… the Catholic Church does a lot of symbolic things to keep you in remembrance of the meaning and events of the Holy Week. In a way, it’s kind of like the Law of Moses, now that I think about it. Yet, the whole service was just so empty of any real feeling or Spirit. And Cecelia is aware of the emptiness of it (we talked about it afterwards) and that’s why she likes meeting with us, yet, she doesn’t really want to change. Hopefully, she will eventually. She’s amazing. I just love her. She’s someone I’m coming back to visit. :)

Well, that’s pretty much been my week. We’re going to go play with the Elders in our district today one last time before I leave. They are so funny. We took some great pictures the other day. I guess I’ll just have to show you them when I get home. I don’t know whose idea it was but they gave us all X-Men nicknames and informed Sister Bell that she was Wolverine, and I was Sabertooth. So we took some pictures acting as our characters. Oh, and did I ever tell you that there is an Elder in my district who looks like Mr. Bean? He’s actually from Mesa, so maybe ya’ll can meet him sometime. :)

Well, I better get going; laundry to do you know… But I’m so glad that George and Debbie loved the Easter Pageant! I’m sad I missed it this year… Anyway, love ya’ll!

~Melissa

Amazing Conference!

Helloooo!

General Conference was so amazing! Of course we watched all 4 sessions. And our investigators that are getting baptized on Sunday watched part of it too! Even the 13 year old boy - who also brought his friend! How about that? Yup, everything is still on for Sunday. We are now, not only speaking, we are also singing a special musical number in between our talks on Sunday. But it will be quite the day. And I hope someone invites us over for dinner….

So Conference – I can’t believe the emphasis on the temple, maybe just because I miss being able to go so much. It seemed to me that everything was about the ordinances and covenants we make and how important they are and that we remember them and do everything in our power to keep them so they can protect us in the times ahead. Was it just me, or were they being even more direct them usual? The temple really is the focus of everything we do, and it’s so fulfilling when someone else catches the vision of it.

The family that is getting baptized, they’ve caught it. They want to be sealed together in the temple and that was a big part of their decision to be baptized. I don’t know if I told you, but the father uses these two crutch things to walk with, but it was really important to his wife and son for him to baptize them, so he’s going to do what he can with his handicap, and someone else will be in the font to help with the actual dunking. We are so excited. They have their baptismal interview tomorrow.

But besides conference, nothing much to really report on, our week was pretty dull and not many people wanting to see us. But the Tuttles make up for everything.

We had a Zone p-day today, and we played capture the flag with flour balls – so basically everyone ended up covered in flour. It was rather amusing. Elders are so funny. They make me laugh; I think I’ve decided to adopt a couple of them as some additional brothers. I don’t think I have enough.

Anyway, I really don’t feel like I have a lot to say right now, and I am, once again, running out of time. So Happy Easter! Be safe and have a fun trip, hug Bracken for me. Love you!

~Melissa

Biking Up Hills

It was another adventure filled week in Gretna! OK, well, not near as exciting as getting locked out of our house and the toilet overflowing, but we set a baptism date with Debbie, the wife of the recent convert that we've been teaching! It's been so amazing to see how she's changed. It seems like the real turning point was when they started doing family prayer every night. And I think that has also been the turning point for their 13 year old son. We would barely see him before; he'd just be back in his room playing video games. Then he'd start coming in and out, and now he stays and participates in the lessons and told us the other day that he is "beginning to believe" and really likes when we come over. Both Debbie and their son came to church on Sunday and had a really good experience. We were worried about how Christian would like it because there are absolutely no youth in the branch. But he actually told his mom that he was glad he came. We didn't know what to do with him, so he ended up just going to all the adult classes with his parents. When we were discussing it as a companionship before he came to church and worrying about him not having the support he needs in the branch, we just came to the conclusion, well, if the Church is true, it's true, and he will feel it and Heavenly Father will provide a way for things to work out. So who knows? Maybe Christian will be baptized with his mom on Easter! That's a great day for a baptism, don't you think?

The weather here has not been able to make up its mind. It's been really rainy and cold, and then it's 70 degrees for a couple days, then goes back to the rain. But yesterday, it was a really nice day, and we went on a bike riding adventure! You see, we are really low on our miles on our car this month, so we were pondering what our options were for the last few days of the month and what people we could see and what we could do without driving too far. Then we thought we'd give some of our investigators a call who had offered to loan us bikes, and asked if we could come over in the morning and borrow them. But instead they delivered them to our house that night. So funny, you would love these two, they are a crack up. I think every time we go over there they give us something. One time it was a bunch of old clothes in case any of it fit us and we had quite the fashion show that night...

But anyway, Bill brought over the bikes complete with helmets, and we donned them the next morning along with our backpacks, we packed a lunch and strapped it to the little platform on the back, armed ourselves with safety pins to keep our skirts from blowing up, and away we went. We thought we might be able to make it up to this area where we'd left off some tracting, but we quickly realized that biking in Virginia is not the same as biking in Arizona or California. We forgot that "this here be hill country." So we ended up walking our bikes up a lot of hills and zooming down them on the other side. It was amazing. And we only made it about halfway before we realized we had to stop in order to be able to get back for our dinner appointment that night. We did a bit of tracting around where we stopped, and then picked a nice grassy spot along side this country road to eat our tuna sandwiches and apples.

I then made some off hand comment, that I think someone should just stop and talk to us about the gospel because they felt impressed to. Then, lo and behold, we see a man walking up the street toward us. He asks if we need any help, and explained he lived in the house that was kind of across and down from where we were sitting, and he saw us on our bikes, and he wasn't used to seeing people on bikes around there and wanted to come talk to us. He then asks who we are and what we were doing and we were more than happy to tell him, and he accepted a Book of Mormon and was really interested to read it. We're going to go back and see him and his wife on Saturday, so we'll see what happens.

We then proceeded on our journey home which included riding our bike across the highway, because there was no other street that went where we needed to go. It was so nice. But I've discovered I'm not in very good shape anymore. I wasn't sore though, at all, only my behind because of the seat... I'm sure we looked quite the sight for all the Gretnans.

Maybe we'll have time to ride them more and I can get a little bit back in shape before I come home. :) But it sounds like you are still busy, busy, and happy. That's all really interesting about the common wealth school and those classes, I think that might be something I'd really like to do. But again, I'm running out of time, talk to you all later! I love you all!

~Melissa

Snow Storm

This picture was taken the day of our big snow storm - the one that started everything off! But it was pretty.

The weather is really nice today, nothing like this picture. I’m sitting in the sun outside the door of my house, listening to the train whistles and the church bells playing, “Brightly Beams.” Virginia definitely does have its charm.

I love you all! Melissa

Interesting People

Hey ya'll!

Great Time-a Day! Sounds like y’all just keep getting busier and busier and have a full summer already! What happened to my laid-back family? But, no, I don't really have any plans for the summer - I don't really know what to do with my life, to be honest. But I really like your idea of training to teach those classes. That Pyramid Project class sounds like something I'd really love. Maybe I can teach that class for you next year :) And something I've learned on my mission is that I really do love to teach, especially about the scriptures. Only it really frustrates me when people don't want to learn.... It's so exciting, why doesn't everyone want to know the things I've learned! Something really interesting, that I learned through looking up words in the concordance and Hebrew & Greek dictionary that you sent me, almost every time the Bible mentions the word 'hell', the original Hebrew and Greek words really mean a world of spirits, a place of the departed, but not a final state. Man, if people could just read the Bible in the original languages, I think people would have a lot better understanding of true doctrine, not that there's still not a lot that's missing, but what is left would be a lot clearer.... so many people get so tripped up because of misunderstandings in the wording. No wonder the Bible is the stumbling block of the gentiles.

But, that is hilarious about Hugo! Dad is just so awesome, I can understand why Hugo wants to talk to him so much, but I wonder why it took him 20 or so years to figure it out. Neighbors really do make life interesting. On the mission, it's your investigators :) Well, actually the ward members, too. Here in Gretna, we have some really great ones. They keep us rolling all the time. Sometimes we can't restrain ourselves and just start laughing, but most of the time we try to hold it in, in case it might offend someone. For example, there's a lady in the ward who it seems, whenever we are at a dinner and she's there too, we end up on the subject of moonshine. I also never realized how big Virginia was in the tobacco industry. There are so many old ladies here that chew, it's disgusting!

So this week I got to visit someone in jail, it was a fun experience - talking on the little phone through the plexi-glass. A less-active member of the ward who wants to start changing his life, he was pretty cool. He wants us to try to get him a Book of Mormon. But the problem is getting anything to him in the jail is a process, and apparently the people at the jail don't like Mormons, so I don't know if it will ever make it to him. How sad.

We had Zone Conference and Stake Conference this week, which we had to be up in Buena Vista for, so we've been missing out on a lot of sleep and study....which is hard, but those conferences are always great. At Stake Conference I got to see a lot of people from when I served in Buena Vista. A lot of people still recognized me and said, “Hi”. I even saw ReNay! I don't know if you remember me talking about him, but he is defiantly one that always kept me laughing. I saw my old ward mission leader and all kinds of people; it was really fun. And not to mention the talks were really great. It never ceases to amaze me how, even though people prepare their talks independently, they all seem to go together. This time it was all about how we need to give our whole hearts to following our Savior. After the conference, we stopped at a park by the river that I'd been to when I served there, and had lunch with the members who gave us a ride. It was so nice and sunny, I loved it.

At Zone Conference, they talked a lot about being more bold and meek and how they can be the same thing when we use them and balance them correctly. They talked about bringing up baptism early and letting people know our purpose. Then that night we had a meeting with, Debbie, the wife of a recent convert, who we just recently started teaching, and after teaching her the plan of salvation, asked her to be baptized, and she said she would, so in the next month we should be having another baptism! We are so excited!

Did I already tell you I have to speak on Easter Sunday? Originally they were going to ask us to speak on the 26th, but I said, well, I'll have to accept for the next missionary, because I won't be there, so they just changed and had us do it on Easter.

Well, I'm running out of time, things are going great here in Gretna. I'll talk to you all later. Love you!

~Melissa

Weaving Threads

Hi everybodeee!

You all crack me up. I'm glad you enjoyed reading about my week. It was definitely an experience. Every week we are supposed to write our mission president letters and just tell him about how the areas are and how we're doing and what not, but I get tired of writing them, so every so often I'll make it fun and write him riddles and jokes (which he'll call me and try to answer), or tell my week in story form about the princesses that live in Gretna, etc. So you can be sure he got a funny rendition of the events. Sis. Bell was telling me she actually wrote about it to her family in verse. She said she'll try to remember it so I can have a copy.

But yes, I got better from being a newt. And no, I didn’t know that GWC is now GWU! I didn’t even know they were holding classes over in Monticello. Have they done any real building over there yet? That’s exciting. I’d like to be involved with it all again, it’s a great work that is going on, but I don’t know how…

But of course, this is the greatest work of all that I’m doing now – missionary work! I actually had a really amazing day of tracting (which still is not my favorite thing to do). It was raining (Still is, in fact, it’s been raining for 5 days straight now, and I’m really getting tired of it – sometimes I think I’m solar powered), but anyway, we had our umbrellas and our boots and we decided to go for it.

Rewinding a little bit first, it all started with a completely bogus media referral. We got a referral from church headquarters that a “Mrs. Howard” ordered a copy of the Book of Mormon. So we went to the address, but nobody knew anything about the mysterious Mrs. Howard – the people that lived there were the Jeffersons. They already had a copy of the Book of Mormon that they’d ordered awhile before, but weren’t really interested. So we decided we needed to tract down that street but didn’t get to it for a couple days – until the day it was raining. For the first time my whole mission, people actually let us in then and there and were able to teach short lessons – and not just one of two people, but six or seven! Not everyone was all that interested, but we got several return appointments. It was crazy. But what was even crazier was that a lot of the people down that street that we talked to were actually relatives of one of our investigators! And then as we were walking back to the car, our investigators passed us in their car and stopped to talk to us and said they were on their way to visit his relatives. Coincidence?

And another strange “coincidence” for you – I don’t know what’s with me and foreigners but over a month ago, we ran into an Egyptian lady and gave her a Book of Mormon, but never knew what came of it. Then out of the blue yesterday a member that was coming with us to an appointment tells us about this friend of hers who knows an Egyptian woman who was given a Book of Mormon, but she had a really hard time understanding it and so she gave it to this friend. So we figured it must be the same lady that we had run into – I mean, really how many Egyptians can there be in Gretna, Virginia? Then a few hours later we go to the post office, and who happens to be sitting in the car next to us when we pull up? The Egyptian lady. We go over and talk to her and she tells us in her broken English that she is glad to see us again and how she gave away our book because she had a hard time understanding it but was still very interested in our religion and asked us a couple of question about things she’d heard and told us a little about Islam. We asked her if she’d like us to get her a copy in her language (Arabic) and she was really excited about that idea and told us where she lived so we could come give it to her when we got it. Crazy.

Isn’t it so amazing when we can start to see God’s hand in all things and how he can weave the threads of everyone’s life into one big, beautiful picture? I love being able to have the opportunity to see those things. For example, I got a card in the mail the other day from the sisters that are serving in Buena Vista right now. They sent me a picture from the baptism of a girl I’d taught while I was there a year ago. I don’t know if you remember me talking about Tabitha, but she was finally baptized! It was so cool to see that! And then I get a letter from Sister Hill, telling me about this less active, part member family that we had started visiting while we were in Christiansburg, and how the husband was getting baptized. I had never even met him because he really didn’t want much to do with the church – and look what happened!

Everything has to start somewhere, and you really just never know what seeds you are planting and what becomes of them. So it’s really fun to be able to see the fruits of some of the seeds you’ve planted every now and then. We are also teaching a part member family here in Gretna now that we are really excited about. The husband joined the church last summer I think, and the wife really didn’t want anything to do with it, but now she’s meeting with us and reading from the Book of Mormon. She’s told us that she thinks we were sent here just for her. Neat, huh? It’s been a great week.

And this next week will be awesome too. We’re having Zone Conference (my last one! I can hardly believe it!), and then Stake Conference that we have to go up to Buena Vista for, so I can see everyone from there! Anyway, I better get going! Love you all!

~Melissa

P.S. I can't send pictures until Sis. Bell finds her camera cord! I guess I could try to remember to take pictures with my camera, but it's been acting funny, so I usually just depend on hers.

Wacky Wednesday

Dear Family,

“It all began with that shoe on the wall. A shoe on the wall – shouldn’t be there at all….” That’s been the theme of the last couple weeks for me. I feel like if I can just find and count all the wacky, wrong, and out of place things, than things will go back to normal. I guess I need to start back last week since my letter got erased. Let’s see…

It all really began at 3:00 o’clock in the morning two Fridays ago. I’d developed a cough the last week or so, but that morning I woke up really feeling a lot worse and coughing up a storm. I go to use the bathroom and then flush it when the toilet starts overflowing. I try plunging it and flush it again, which only caused it to overflow more and I was only half awake and not feeling good anyway, so in despair I give up and go back to bed – leaving the bathroom floor completely soaked (and of course, to make it even better the bathroom is carpeted). So that’s funny how we both had a flooding experience about the same time! Anyway, so in the morning I hear Sister Bell getting up so I go to warn her about the bathroom, and so she decides to try to fix it and did the exact same thing I had done and it, of course, overflows again. And we don’t own any towels except our bath towels so we had nothing to soak it up with except an old blanket that we weren’t using. We can’t get a hold of any plumbers or our landlord and we have to be in Lynchburg for our interviews with our mission president, so we just put a fan on it, opened the window and left it. We ended up being gone all day because we had other appointments and what not all day long. When we get home that night our house stinks and our toilet still doesn’t work so we have to drive to our church building any time we had to go to the bathroom. In the morning we still couldn’t get a hold of a plumber or our landlord and we had a baptism we needed to prepare for that morning, so again we leave it.

The baptism went great! Satan tried really hard to mess things up and get to Will, but he didn’t let anything stop him. Once he had it in his head he was going to finally be baptized, he wanted to do it as soon as possible! We saw him everyday pretty much that week and seeing the happiness on his and his wife’s faces was amazing. I ended up giving one of the talks at the baptism even though I could barely talk and I almost boiled him and Bro. Hall in the baptismal font, but other than that it was great! You see, they told me that they had a problem with the water being too cold before, so didn’t even think to check to see if it was too hot. I just kept checking periodically to see that the water hadn’t gone cold while I filled the font, not even realizing it was a bit too hot. But they said it was fine, so all was well :)

We were able to go to the store and buy some extra towels afterwards and borrowed a shop-vac and we’re able to finally get most the water up. We plunged the toilet some more – and miraculously it started flushing again…go figure.

In the meantime I had been coughing up a lung (I think I had a bit of bronchitis) and it had been raining all day long (which was ironic because we put the rugs and blanket that we used to sop up some of the water outside to dry) but we still proceeded with our day and we had dinner with a member family and they were dropping us off that night, when I realized, we had locked ourselves out of our house. It was freezing and raining and no way to get into our house. But we remembered we’d left the window open all day hoping to help the carpet dry out, but really only succeeding in making it more wet. However the window is really high up from the back. So the members drive us back to their house to get a ladder and he climbs in our bathroom window for us and unlocks our door...

The next morning it starts snowing and after sacrament meeting they cancel the rest of church (just enough time for Will to be confirmed!) and everyone tells me to stay home the rest of the day and get better. But we have appointments that we don’t want to miss, so we go out driving in the snow and slide around a bit, but were completely safe. We ended up having a snowball fight with some people we just met at the apartment complex where our appointment was and had a great time. Then all throughout the night it snows and we have the worst snow we’ve had in a long time here – we got about 10 inches. I didn’t think it would be any big deal, since we were just able to brush it off our car in the morning and go, but most other people around here got snowed and iced in and some lost electricity for 3 days. But what it meant for us was 3 days of cancelled appointments and not being able to see anyone! Because every day it seemed to get worse, not because it snowed anymore, but some of the snow would melt and then it would freeze again in the night and make it even worse for getting around! Last p-day, was very frustrating because not only did my letter get erased, but we didn’t have time to do anything else we needed to, the dryers at the Laundromat were practically all out of order, etc., etc.

Of course, now the weather is in the 80’s and it is just mocking us…. It seems like there was a lot more that happened, but I guess it’s all not important. It just seemed like to counter the amazing experience we had with getting Will ready and baptized, that we had a really bad next couple weeks. Nothing just seemed to go right. Our other investigators all seem to be regressing and not finding many new ones.

However we did run into the funniest old ladies yesterday that just seemed to epitomize small town Virginia culture. When we walked up they were just sitting in the carport reminiscing on their lives. They invited us to sit down and talk with them and they proceed to jab our ears off – about all sorts of things! We find out they are twins, in their 80’s, named Selma and Thelma and they’ve lived in Gretna their whole lives. They sit in the 5th pew at the Baptist church on the corner (the one that the bells play church hymns throughout the day), and everyone looks forward to seeing how they will be dressed on Sunday :) They told us practically their entire life stories and their problems with their children and daughters-in-law and about how nobody keeps the law of chastity. But we did end up teaching them the entire plan of salvation, and they said we could come back whenever we wanted. So funny…

Good news, though, I’m feeling all better. And, I pretty much already knew this but, I’m staying here in Gretna for the rest of my mission with Sister Bell. I can’t believe I only have one transfer left! Just 6 more weeks! Crazy! All the elders I came out with keep giving me a hard time because I’m going home and they’re not.

Anyway, I had a really great talk with my mission president at interviews and had some good doctrinal discussion. Something I was talking to him about was faith and how to really exercise true faith. He told me something that really stood out to me. He was telling me that part of having faith and exercising it was recognizing the promptings of the Spirit, no matter how small, and having the confidence to hold on to them no matter what. So I guess I need to learn to better recognize those little answers and promptings and go forward with them and not doubt. Faith is just one of those things that even though it is so simple, I feel like I could study it for a life time and still have a ton to learn.

To answer your question, no they hadn’t started working on 52nd street when I left, so I got to miss the whole thing! Ha, ha! The pictures were great! Sounds like Kristi is having way too much fun- I’m going to have to come home and tag along after her :) Well, gotta go. All the pictures that we've taken are on Sis. Bells camera and she can't find her cord, or else I'd attach some great pictures. Oh well, you'll see them eventually.

Love you all! ~Melissa

Caught off guard!

To Larry, Curly & Mo,

Here you go... a picture of Sis. Bell and I with one of our investigators, Ray. His girlfriend, Sandra, is taking the picture and he put his arms around us before we could stop him and she took the picture... notice how we both look uncomfortable? He's a funny guy and really misses the Elders because he used to hug them all the time. They are the ones with all the funny concerns, but we love them to death. We even got to walk their dog the other day. It was so fun. Love you all!

~Melissa

Feeling the Spirit

To my silly family:

I just don't know what I'm going to do with my family when I get home...I don't even know if I'll fit in anymore... everyone's so busy and important. The pictures you sent cracked me up! Especially Dad wearing those silly glasses. And Stetson is just SO cute! I'm glad Mylie had a good birthday; I don't think I'll recognize her at all; she's grown up so much! I agree with Rick when he said it sounds like Ethan is becoming more like Calvin all the time :) What a funny kid.

It's been another crazy week in Gretna. Oh and by the way, did I ever tell you that this town is so big it even has one stop light? And of course, I church on every corner. So it that respect, it's a lot like what Rick said Honduras was like. It's the same thing, people just don't understand why our church is really any different, it's only when they understand authority that it seems to click. But guess what? We're having a baptism!! Woohoo! It's scheduled for this Saturday as of now, but I think we might end up pushing it back a week just to make sure he's ready. His wife joined the church last year and he's been coming with her most of the time, so it was really just a matter of time. But it was the neatest experience. We were meeting with them and I was getting a little frustrated actually, because it didn't seem like any real teaching was going on. They were just talking with a question or comment every now and then from us. (That's actually a pretty common problem out here, boy do people just love to talk). They didn't seem to be really going anywhere with all their talking, but something just kept telling me to listen to him. So I tried really hard to stay focused on what he was really saying and encourage him when he spoke of his feelings about the gospel. Eventually he basically was bearing his testimony to us about how he knew it was true and he knew what he needed to do. And at one point you just knew the Holy Ghost was speaking to him confirming what he said was true. Then we basically said to him, well, what are you waiting for, and he responded "I don't know - I'm waiting for you!" And we replied that we were just waiting for him to make up his mind. And if that's the case, let's set a date! And he did. So awesome. The Spirit is so real.

The influence of the adversary is also real as we found this week as well. And one of his biggest tools is confusion. We were really disappointed when we went back to see some of our investigators this week that we thought were progressing so well, only to find that they had been confused and we had to explain a lot of things over again that they had understood before but the adversary has been working on them....arrgggghhh (shaking fist). The spirit of contention and confusion really is of the devil. The spirit speaks in plainness and peace. You know what some of the weird concerns I've encountered recently are? We were teaching the plan of salvation, but we didn't get very far, because they started insisting that Adam and Eve weren't the only people on the earth, they were just the only ones in the garden - otherwise who did their kids marry? They also insist that angels have wings and got confused when we referred to Moroni as an angel, but she understood when we explained he was a resurrected being.... people are so funny. And just for the record - I looked up every single instance where the word angel is mentioned in the Bible and never once does it say anything at all about angels having wings. Just goes to show how powerful false traditions are.

I better get going but I just love my family so much and I want you to know that!

~Melissa

P.S. Did you know that Ron Carter died (author of Prelude to Glory Series)? Somebody just told me that, but I guess he died sometime last Fall. I guess he never got to writing those books on the Mexican colonies that he was planning.... I was looking forward to those.

Valentines & Fairies

Howdy Ho, Ranger Joe!

OK, so my accent probably isn't as bad as I made it sound... but, great-time-a-day, ya’ll'd just be tickled if ya’ll knowed what I et this week - chicken livers! I must say they ain’t my favorite. There's a little restaurant here in Gretna that everyone says is just soooo good, and one day a member took us there for lunch. It's real down home southern cookin' buffet style. All sorts of stuff like fried chicken (and fried chicken livers), stewed tomatoes, pinto beans, corn bread, mashed potatoes just oozing with butter... and of course you can't forget the souse meat. I wasn't brave enough to try that - basically it's all the parts of the pig that they didn't use all boiled down and added vinegar to and let congeal.... at least that's what I was told....

Anyway, it's been a really good week. We have a few investigators that are really making progress. One of the couples finally came to church for the first time, and they had such a good experience, and even though they've apparently been taught a lot by the Elders (but of course we didn't know that because the Elders that served here didn't quite ever get the pen to the paper in keeping records....arggghh....) they seem to be really understanding the gospel and it's finally starting to click for them. Of course they have some ridiculous concerns about things like angels having wings. They said, "It says so in the Bible and there's nothing you can say to convince me otherwise." But I've never had investigators before with such questions as they do and still are so willing to keep listening and learning. It was just amazing at church, though; everything that was said in sacrament meeting was just so perfect for them to hear. And then they participated and everything in Sunday School, Relief Society, and Priesthood, and everyone was so welcoming to them. Of course, they might have felt so comfortable in the classes because we were the ones teaching. We taught both the Gospel Principles class and the Relief Society lesson. We got a call at 6:45 in the morning asking us to teach the Relief Society lesson.... I love when that happens... but really I don't get all that nervous to teach anymore, but still speaking in church is a little different. I'm so impressed at Rick talking for 20 minutes in church all in Spanish!

I can't believe how fast I've been able to get to know and love somebody on my mission. It's crazy to think I've only known these investigators for 2 and a half weeks, but it feels like months! We also have an investigator that is from Ireland, I can't remember if I've told you about her, but she is just amazing as well. I can't believe I've only know her for that long either. She's someone I want to keep in contact with forever. So I might be picking up a wee bit of an Irish accent as well to go right along with my Southern.

I had a good Valentine’s day; it's so funny how everyone gives us food for any occasion they can think of. So we're well taken care of. I think I'll have to give up on trying to lose any weight before I come home; even our investigators feed us all the time here! But it was so funny, so Sis. Bell and I decided to buy the cheesiest little elementary school Valentine cards to send to people, so we got some with fairies and Tinkerbelle that came with stickers, and we decided to give them to the Elders in our district, too. I've never seen anyone so excited to get little Valentine cards; they crack me up. They promptly put the fairy stickers on the back of their nametags...

We were talking to one of our investigators husband who is just the nicest guy and knows everyone, and he was telling us that we may not know it, but everyone knows who we are in town and even the surrounding towns and are talking about us. I guess news travels fast when anyone new comes into town here, especially because we're two, young pretty girls, according to the man we were talking to. It was pretty funny. I don't even feel like we've talked to too many people. But of course, they know us.

Well, I'm getting kicked off the computer, so I have to end. But I love you all and thanks for the pictures and the news. I have the best family ever!

~Melissa

Losing My Grammar

Hey, how you?

You know, as much as I hate to admit it, I think it will take awhile for my grammar to recover from being in Virginia, I really do find myself saying phrases from around here before I catch myself. I don't think I talk "TV" anymore...

But I guess you want my address before I forget again. Sorry...

P.O. Box 933
Gretna, VA 24557

So, it's been a pretty busy week, I think we've finally met most of the investigators the Elders left. And I almost have the Branch members down, but everyone's related, so it's hard to remember all the connections. You definitely never want to say anything about anyone else, because it will certainly get back to them in a couple hours. There is this one lady in the branch that wanted us to come and meet her neighbors. She was so bold, it was awesome. And because she was there, these people actually let us in and listened to us and invited us back. Now that's member missionary work!

We also had a Zone Conference on Thursday. And guess what? It was up in Buena Vista and Gay and Larry skipped their lunch to come over to the church building to see me! I felt so loved. I've kept in touch with them, and they are doing so well. I can't believe it was over a year now that they were baptized and now they're preparing to go to the temple! They're teaching in Primary and are very active. That just makes me so happy. Everyone loves them. Gay kept hugging me and didn't want to leave or let me go. I just love them. That was the highlight of my week.

And of course Zone Conference is always uplifting. One of the Elders from my MTC district is now my District Leader and that's a lot of fun. As funny as it might sound, I was just overwhelmed by the love I felt at Zone Conference for all the Elders and Sisters I've served with and my Mission President, and I realized that that's a taste of the love that my Heavenly Father's has for me. He loves me so much He let me have this opportunity to learn to love more than I ever have before. Heavenly Father's the best.

Well, I guess I don't really have much else to say except I love you all! And I love hearing all the funny stories and interesting happenings of my family. Happy Valentine’s Day!

~Melissa

Gretna

Hello Everybodee!

I have to admit, my new area, even though it's not all that far from some of my other areas, is really different. The culture is much more like I'm really in the South than before. Gretna is a very small town, and I can walk to almost everywhere in it pretty easily. Of course, our area's a lot bigger than just Gretna. And apparently, because Gretna is so small and only has a few police officers, they have a pretty bad drug problem. And the stereotype of "the other side of the tracks" is a reality here. But no worries, we have lots of people looking out for us. And there's only a branch here. My first time in a branch. There's about 40 people that come on Sundays and they're almost all old. They laugh about that themselves. They're almost all 50 and above. Absolutely no youth, so they don't have to worry about callings like YM/YW leaders. And only a small primary. Needless to say, it's very reverent during the passing of the sacrament. But the members are awesome. And they have a lot of time to do missionary work with us! I still get fed all the time and they already have an exchange schedule going to go visiting with us. They are a crack up. And the Elders that we took over for actually left us with some really good investigators who are close to baptism, and the house didn't smell near as bad as the last one. Of course, the first thing I had to do was clean and rearrange everything’ I still just don't understand Elders' sense of organization.

My companion’s name is Sister (Heather) Bell. She's from southern California and is really into the performing arts. She's a great missionary already. I probably learn more from my companions than they do from me. I just fill her in on the little things like the how of keeping paperwork, and things like that. Oh, we actually live in our own little house that we have all to ourselves, so no people that live above us that yell at their kids or smoke so you can smell it through the vents.

I've been studying a lot about faith recently, and I just don't know if I can ever really have the faith like the people in the scriptures. But I've been trying. And there really are a lot of little miracles that happen every day if you just recognize them. For instance, we had tried to meet this investigator, but had never been able to find her home. Then later on we decide to go tracting on this certain street, and at the last minute decided just to walk there instead of driving, and on the way back, we were passing this parking lot, and someone calls out to us. It was the investigator that we had tried to find earlier. She just happened to be in that parking lot and happened to see us and think to herself that we looked like missionaries and thought she'd stop us to see if we were the new ones the Elders told her were coming. It's just amazing to me, how Heavenly Father really does know every little thing and can make things work out exactly how they should be if we just trust Him. And it was funny, because we had completely forgotten about it being Super Bowl Sunday that night; no wonder no one answered their doors.... but we were at the right place at the right time to meet this investigator. Cool, huh?

Well, I'll try to take some pictures for you so I can send them next week. Love you all!

~Melissa

My Birthday!

Silly Mommy, always worrying needlessly. You're little package was perfect! My companions were jealous of my present :) And we loved the music video - they pretty much think I have the coolest family ever (well, at least a really funny one, anyway). I mean who else makes such amazing works of cinematography? I had them really wanting to see "The Power of the Tag" after telling them about it. I just laughed and laughed while we were watching your latest film. Of course, I had to explain the importance of tumbleweeds to one's happiness to them. My favorite part was the girls trying to roll Jeff around and Mylie running away from being steamrolled.

I didn't need any package to open for my birthday, because my companions take such good care of me. They made me breakfast and a little foam birthday crown to wear around the house, and a tres leches cake with kiwi and peaches. Then at the end of the day, they made some excuse about having to stop by the Cueva's house (the Honduran family in the ward) and they had a little surprise party for me! Sis. Cueva made me some cake and the kids all sang happy birthday to me. So we were probably all celebrating at the same time. You all are so silly, I'm glad you had so much fun having a party for me!

So, I don't know if you've heard of this before, but the tradition in Central America is, after you blow out the candles, everyone starts chanting "Mordida! Mordida!" (which I guess means "bite it!") and you have to try to bite the cake before someone smooshes your face in it. Of course, what usually happens is a face fully of frosting and everyone thinks this is really funny. And that's what happened to me - I even got cake and frosting up my nose! (I'll send you the picture when I can get it from Sis. Daw). Then my companions had managed to buy me a couple presents without me noticing while we were at the store and I opened them after I cleaned out my nostrils. I don't know how they did it, they are so sneaky - it's hard to do anything without your companions noticing! They are the best companions ever. Then after returning home we played a couple of rousing games of speed scrabble while drinking pina coladas until we got....the call.

I pretty much already knew I was getting moved, but President called and confirmed it and told me I was going to Gretna, VA. No West Virginia for me, since I'll more than likely stay in Gretna the rest of my mission since I'll be training again. I've been doubled into most of my areas! I actually kind of like it though, because you and your companion learn everything and meet everyone together. I'm not sure of the address yet, but I'll get that to you next week. Sis. Martineau and Sis. Daw were expecting to go back to just the two of them and were complaining that it would be lonely now, but then they found out that they're getting another companion. I guess one more sister is going home early due to health problems.

The only thing about my birthday that was a bummer is that we found out that our investigator family from Honduras that we've been so excited about (and who always sing for us) are suddenly moving to Richmond because of their work. In fact, they left today. They said they'd let us know when they knew where they were living and that they'd look up the missionaries, but it was still a bummer for us. Crazy things always happen when people are trying to do what's right, it seems. We had another investigator go to the hospital this week. But I admit, I didn't get too attached to many of the people here because I knew I wouldn't be here very long.

I will miss my companions though - and all our little musical moments :) One day we decided to do our nightly planning session all in song. I've always thought it would be fun if life was really a musical and randomly people would burst into song and choreographed dance numbers. Here it began to be a reality :) Don't worry about going off on all the educational stuff you are doing, mom, it sounds so neat and it makes me really miss it and want to be a part of it too. And I'm really jealous that Dad is taking the concealed weapons class without me! Oh well :) Well, I got to get going. Love you all!

~Daughter of a Newt

Journals

Showing off our neat-o-cool slippers we got for Christmas from the Baggerlys - the couple who fed us Christmas breakfast. Aren't they so cute? The Baggerlys just thought they were so funny.

Hello!

That's no fun that Dad has to work a graveyard shift, but at least he has a place to sleep quietly so he won't turn back into a newt :) That's great that your class went so well. It's nice to have that confirmation to know that, yes, what you are doing is right. It makes it so much easier, because you're not wasting any time doubting and you have that conviction to keep you going even when things go bad. I've had that same experience on my mission. Sometimes I've wondered if it was what I was really supposed to do. But I've had so many little confirmations that I can look back to and give me the reassurance that I need to keep going. That's another good reason to keep a journal. If you don't write down all those little things that happen that are answers to prayer, you most likely won't remember a lot of them and then you won't have that extra help / boost when you need it. I've been really trying to do better on my mission with that. Sometimes I've slacked, but as a whole, I've been better than I ever have in my life at keeping a journal and it really is amazing the difference it makes. Even just on my mission, those times that I have kept a journal, I not only remember that time better even without going back and reading about it, but those times seem so much more meaningful - just because I took the time to make it meaningful and write it down. Same thing with writing down the things that you learn. I've been reading the Old Testament again; it's just crazy, but something really stuck out to me the other day. It's been said that it seems like God in the Old Testament is really harsh, but really, when you think about it, the Old Testament is really a testimony of just how merciful God is. The people in the Old Testament were constantly breaking their promises and covenants and not doing the things they were commanded to do - and yet, every time God gives them another chance. He might let some bad things happen for a little while, but He always delivers them, no matter how bad they've been, when they just stop and remember Him and ask for help. If that's not merciful, I don't know what is. It gives me hope in my own life. That no matter what, He'll be there; I just have to remember that He is.

But anyway, yeah, I got that form too - we call them your "Trunky Papers". So yep, I’ll be coming home on April 23! Oh, don't feel bad like you made me pick the earlier release date - I was already planning on it. Coming home at the end of April just makes so much more sense. That way if I want to do anything for the summer, it will be perfect timing. Yeah, I've kicked the idea around of going with Brian to Chicago. I thought it might be a nice way to transition coming home. Because really, talking to Brian, it sounds like I'd still be keeping basically the missionary schedule and doing kind of the same thing :) And I'll probably need to make some money before I can do anything else... But I don't know if I will, I don't know if I'd really be able to handle it. And will anyone want to buy security systems if the economy is so bad? Well, actually, maybe they will since there is usually more crime when the economy is bad....

Anyway, I really don't know what I want to do when I come home. I want to move on with my life, but I don't know what the next step is. I'll be back where I was right before I left. Except this time Heavenly Father can't surprise me by telling me that what I'm supposed to do next is go on a mission... But I'm glad I did.

This past week has been kind of slow, and very cold, but still very good. We've still got quite a few investigators that we're teaching and that are progressing, but a lot of them are Spanish speaking, so I haven't really gotten to know any of them very well. We met a lady at the nursing home that we volunteer at that is 101 and still pretty mentally sharp. We had so much fun talking to her. She's this cute little old black woman with her southern accent telling us all about her life and how she's so lonely cause all her people are gone but she's got the Lord and that makes everything good. She really liked to hear us sing to her. I want to be that fun when I'm old.

Also, Sister Martineau and Sister Daw were so impressed with my spoon making skills that they wanted me to teach them too... So they've been having fun. I told them how I first started carving on my mission as a stress reliever when I was frustrated with my companion or just the mission in general and they thought that was a good idea and that they might steal my relaxation technique :) Well, I better get going. I sure love you all!

~Melissa

Hondo Adventures

The highlight of my week this time around was definitely on Saturday when we had a baptism - the lady I was telling you about last week. It was so nice. Her husband actually came and her son baptized her – even if it did take him 3 times :) He told her not to wear the dress, but she wanted to and it kept billowing up, so she went real quick and put on the jumper and there were no more problems. Poor guy, he was so nervous, especially since he’s only been a member for 6 months. Then the son’s best friend, who baptized him and introduced them to the church, confirmed her a member of the church the next day and gave a very simple but powerful blessing. I didn’t think about it at the time, but Sis. Daw pointed out that the best friend looks and talks like Napoleon Dynamite. And it was true. I didn’t attach a picture with him in it though. Just us, Sis. Duke, her husband and her son, Chris. I just love baptisms! But I love more to hear the people’s testimonies. Sister Duke’s is so strong, she said her investigation into the church started out mainly wanting to know what her son had gotten himself into, but now she says she has finally found a place where it feels she is coming home.

Now it’s time to tell you of my latest Hondo adventures :) Well, we found out today that the father of one of the recent convert families from Honduras is probably being deported soon (which has caused a lot of drama) but when he does, I’ll have to tell Rick to keep an eye out for him. He’s a really good guy and speaks pretty good English. The family is staying here until he can get everything settled. I swear, it always happens this way, right when people are really trying hard to get their lives in order, Satan doesn’t want them to get away that easy and he blind sides them with something completely unexpected. They were preparing to go to the temple and everything, and I know things will still be ok, because they haven’t let it affect their trust in God that things will turn out all right. Now for the food segment – I haven’t tried what Rick described, but an investigator family from Honduras made us what they called enchiladas, but really it was more like what we would call tostadas. It had ground beef and potato with shredded cabbage, boiled egg, and Parmesan cheese on top. Interesting, but good. Actually yesterday, we were fed 4 dinners in a row. That isn’t a common occurrence, but we told the Elders in our district that and they were really jealous because apparently the Elders in this mission hardly get fed at all by people… And I wish I didn’t get fed so much…life just isn’t fair, is it?

We also started teaching English classes to a group of Spanish speakers here in Galax. Well, I guess I should say, Sis. Martineau is teaching, and it’s been a really great opportunity for meeting more people. I wish I could stay here and learn Spanish and be able to help her out more with the Spanish work here, but President basically told me that I’ll be moved this next transfer (Jan 28 – right after my birthday!) and most likely will be training again and opening another area to sisters, because we have 3 new sisters coming in. Of course he could change his mind since there are plenty of other sisters now capable of training. It was also President Thornock’s birthday yesterday and I carved him a spoon :) Silly, I know, but I still had a piece of nice cedar wood that I had cut down while I was in Buena Vista so I thought I do something with it.

~Melissa

Happy New Year!

Got Milk?

The Milk I am drinking is rootbeer milk - weird I thought, but I guess the idea was for it to taste like a melted rootbeer float. Sis. Daw got them for Christmas.

This is in the library where we volunteer

More library pictures

Sis. Martineau and I with Sis. Johnson - she's in our ward.

Her husband came from the B. F. Johnson line.

Why do I run into realitives everywhere I go?

Hi everyone!

Man, that is a bummer for Rick. I had a really good New Year's Eve. We went that night to a Spanish speaking investigator family and they made us real Mexican food and we had a good lesson with them. The kids can speak English, and the parents mostly understand, so Sister Daw and I can actually participate in teaching, but still, Sister Martineau explains what we said in Spanish so the parents understand better. Then we went home and again had a little fire in our fireplace and played phase 10. We weren't planning on staying up, because we still have to get up early, but I built the fire so well, it was still going, and we didn't want to have to put it out and we couldn't just leave it since we have no fireplace barrier thing, so we did stay up and drink some Martinelli's and made some New Year’s predictions and went to bed. Then on New Year's pretty much all our appointments cancelled on us, but oh well.

I'm glad Dad got his postcard just in time; I never know how long things take to get there. It's funny; Sister Martineau loves to take pictures, so we've been taking some good ones of the three of us. Again, Happy Birthday, Daddy! And remember, no grumpiness allowed. You'll never be old to me!

So I understand now why we always needed to leave our Christmas tree up till after Dad's Birthday. January 6 is the Day of the Wise Men (in Mexico) and the night before (Jan. 5) the Wise Men come and leave more presents under the tree for the kids. But you see, the wise men never stopped at our house because we didn't leave water out for the camels to drink, or any carrots or anything. So I think you should try that next year. In Mexico, according to Sis. Martineau, the Day of the Wise Men is really when you get all the big, fun presents and toys. Christmas is more spiritual and family oriented. I thought that was cool. But anyway, we tried it last night. We left water out for the camels - and the wise men stopped! Well, really it was Sis. Martineau, of course (they had to have someone to help them since we're a long way from Mexico). She left us little presents all wrapped up in brown paper, and the water in the bowl was all gone! Then I made some cinnamon apple pancakes (since I was the first one up) and told them the wise men had left the batter, too, so I thought I'd cook them up for them. It was pretty funny. I love my companions. They are so fun and really great missionaries well. I told them I had to come to them to get re-trained.

It sounds (and looks) like you had quite the fun New Year's Eve party! I'm really curious what some of the games were! Niki really knows how to make things fun and creative! I do like your idea, mom, of starting the New Year out right by watching the sunrise. And I did get all of the pictures you sent. I have such a good looking family!

We had another really great lesson with a Spanish speaking family, and I try really hard to follow, and I can mostly follow the gist of the conversation, but I'm lost if they ask me anything - all of the sudden my mind goes blank, but anyway, this family is really sweet. They bought us doughnuts as a special treat after our lesson and then serenaded us on their guitars. The dad is a really great guitar player, in true mariachi style. They sang us some song about conversion to Christ and then Sis. Martineau said something about my birthday coming up, so they sang a song for me wishing me happiness and what not. We are going to be starting to teach some English classes for the Spanish speakers around here, and see how that goes and use it for a finding opportunity. So that will be fun.

It really is just so amazing how much the gospel can change people and their lives if they just let it. On Sunday, at fast and testimony meeting, the son of the lady that is getting baptized on Saturday bore his testimony and it was so simple and sincere and he told of how he's seen his parents and their relationship and his relationship with them change so much just in the months since he was baptized (in July). He told how his parents went from not talking to him because he joined the church to now his mom is getting baptized herself, and the dad, who was so anti, is now willing to attend the baptism and even come to church with them as a family every now and then. The softening of his dad's heart really was a miracle. And an answer to prayer. We joined our prayers and fasting with the mom and son that the dad would at least attend the baptism and it was the next week when he decided he would. Truly, anything is possible if we just trust the Lord and trust in his timing.

Well, I better go. I agree with you mom, trying to write a meaningful letter in an hour is really hard for me - I just think too much. Tell my grandmas that they need to stop falling and get better! I love you all!!

~Melissa