Ups and Downs

So this has been the craziest week of my whole mission.  I got my new Trainee, Sister Armstrong.  She's really awesome.  I absolutely love her and I could not think of anymore more perfect to work with. We are still in a trio.  We get along really well, I just think we're a little more productive with the 3 of us.  Trios are hard because it's more people to keep track of, but they give you a personality break.  Blessing! 

So we were getting Sister Armstrong settled in at the start of the week.  Then one of our investigators named Ryan texted me and said he is ready to get baptized.  The problem was, he is getting deployed TODAY, so the following Monday after he texted me.  So we meet with him a ton between Wednesdayand Saturday getting everything worked out.  Teaching the rest of the lessons and getting him interviewed and such.  He got baptized on Saturday and it was really spiritual.  It was a baptism for the Keesler Branch, so we carpooled and took all of the branch members over to the ward building to where the font was.  It was nice.  We got to the branch on Sunday and are excited for him to get confirmed and he doesn't show.  I call him and he says he doesn't believe anymore.  This was a huge blow for me. He was my first baptism, well almost.  We met with him last night and had like a 3 hour long discussion with him.  He's very confused and doesn't know what's true anymore.  Well he deploys today and if anything, we gave him a good foundation to grow upon.  We really cared about him and were hurt by his decision, but we can't take away his agency.  I know that I was given this experience to help me learn a lesson and grow as a missionary.  It just really sucked.

That's the biggest thing thing that has happened this week.  We are putting last weeks events in a box and leaving it on a shelf.  Onward and upward.  Some prayers would be appreciated.

Love,

Sister McElderry

Below is our baptism picture