March 5, 2012

How is everyone doing? I'm still doing well here. My itchiness is starting to fade; definitely not as bad as it was last week, thank goodness. So this last week one of our investigators dropped us. He is the father of the boy who has the baptism for March 18th, but they didn't come to church yesterday, so they boy probably will not be getting baptized. The dad, he dropped us because he's just not ready. He has a lot of issues with the members of the ward making him feel inferior and out of place. He seems to know the church is true. We asked him if he believed if Joseph Smith was a prophet. He said yes and no. He has his concerns and doubts. But then he said, "I believe you missionaries." He knows that we know it is true. And trusts us. But he still has the issues of the other members. So hopefully with time things will get better. I hope and pray. But they might be moving soon. He got a job in Orville which is an hour or so away, so they are looking to move closer. Maybe things with the church down there will be better for him. And maybe he and his son will be able to get baptized down there. Hopefully. I pray that one day that their family will be united, active, faithful members of the true church of God. So anyways, that experience was interesting. Thursday we had Sister's Training. We drove down to Granite Bay, where the Weston's live. It was weird to see other sister missionaries again. There are 24 of us now in the mission field here. When I first came I think there were 18! Slowly we are building our numbers. But it was good to see them all - especially the ones I know, Sister Withers, Sister Crossley. Yep. Anyway, it was a good meeting. President Weston talked about how we need to have meaningful prayers. Prayers that will help us be closer to the spirit. Something I wrote down was this, "It's not about how much you accomplish, but how close to the spirit you become. Because then you'll be doing just exactly what you need to be doing." It's so true. If we are staying close to the spirit, we will be inspired to do what is most important. We will be able to have a greater effect on the people we come across. I am now striving to make sure my prayers and my life are more in tune with the spirit. This last week I realized how much we really need to rely on the spirit. One night as we were planning, I tried relying more on the spirit as we planned who to see the next day. A few random names came to mind. So the next day we visited those less actives and boy were the results great. One of them we might start teaching the lessons this week. And the other, she has a strong testimony still, we hope that through time something will happen. It's so cool what can happen when you are listening to the spirit! Saturday we had a lesson with another of our investigators - the one with the baptismal date in June. It was good. We taught obedience and the law of chastity. Yesterday, one of our recent converts and his wife did not make it to church, so we stopped by their place. It was good that we did. It was an off day for them, they looked worn down and tired. I was glad we stopped by. The recent convert, he has a speech problem due to a stroke he had a year ago. He hadn't talked to very many people recently and it is always good that we go over so he can talk to us. They say he always speaks better when we are there. I'm glad that we were able to help. Plus, he was a little depressed at first and he seemed a bit better by the time we left. Well, I love you all lots and lots. You are all so wonderful. Have a marvelous week!!!
Love you always,
Sister Kristi Walston