We had a pretty awesome week! We've been working with some of our potentials trying to flush out the ones who seriously want to learn more and who are just being nice by telling us "sure, come back sometime other than right now."
The ones who have emerged victorious:
Liz and Jametrice- Mother and daughter combo. They are super sweet. Not very talkative but they really love learning from us and get excited when we come teach them. Jametrice is 12 and we are really enjoying helping her to find greater purpose in this life and avoid some of the pitfalls of youth. They accepted our invitation to be baptized and we were planning on setting them with a date, but Jametrice broke her foot and will need surgery. So that will be delayed a bit. They're still super awesome!
Tosha'- Not pronounced "Tasha," pronounced "Taw-Shay." The bishop scruggled to pronounce "Tosha'" and "Jametrice" all through ward council. It was pretty funny. Tosha' is 17 and is fostered by a woman in our ward. She's super sweet and has experienced a lot of really unfortunate things in her life. My goal for her is to find the peace and love that we gain through our knowledge of the gospel. How all the holes in our hearts and scarring experiences we have can be healed through the atonement of Jesus Christ. She's wonderful and I want her to be a wonderful and confident woman.
Danielle- She is the nurse for a less active man in Raymond, MS who cares for his special needs sister, Carol. Brother Kynard is the sweetest man I've ever met. He has devoted the remainder of his days caring for his sweet sister, Carol. Danielle has been working for them for about a year and she is fun, friendly, and out going. The sisters met her around the time she started working for the Kynards and helped her stop smoking. She told them she was comfortable with her church and wasn't interested in converting. We went over this week and sang hymns for them and they recorded us so Carol can listen to us later. I performed "Come Thou Fount" (the same one I did with Ashley) on Sunday and invited Danielle to come watch. She came! She purchased a whole new outfit just to come to church! She loved it and loved all the people. I took her around before church and introduced her to many of the members. Really I was just showing her off because I love her so much. After Sunday school, she talked about how much she loves the sister missionaries for helping her stop smoking and bringing the spirit in to her life. I was so touched. We went to visit her at the Kynards that night and sang some more for them. Then we talked about why we're on missions and shared our testimonies. Danielle talked about how she could feel the spirit in their home the minute she walked in on her first day of work. The spirit was so strong during that visit. I love that little family so much. They are all so humble. She told me that I'm always smiling and shine and glow every time she sees me. It was a wonderful compliment and really touched me.
I know Heavenly Father blessed us with these wonderful women because we worked out butts off to get all of our tracting hours. We fell behind earlier in the week and had to tract 6 hours in two days to make up for it. It was exhausting. I finally had those nights where I truly felt like I earned the opportunity to collapse in to my bed exhausted.
It's been a wonderful week and I'm looking forward to doing some more hard work this coming week! Keep us in your prayers! Remember to pray for the missionaries in your ward by name! Your prayers help us!
Love,
Sister McElderry
