The email was full of funny stories and spiritual experiences that would have brought you to tears. Now you will just have to suffer with some quick notes about the people we are teaching!
Laura Parnell- She is the wife of a less active man in the ward. We approached her one day at an activity and asked if she would like to meet with us. She said yes and the rest is pretty much history! Her baptism date is set for September 18th and she is super excited! She loves the history of the church and the missionary lessons. She is so prepared!
Tina Ramey- She is the caretaker of an elderly lady we visit, Sister Hazel. We started out visiting Hazel and eventually started teaching Tina. We talked about the blessings of the gospel and how it blesses our families. That really appealed to her. Then we taught the Plan of Salvation and she LOVED it. She came to church and LOVED church! She want's her daughter to come with her!
Charles Lane- He is the neighbor of Sister Hazel. He has been watching us visit Sister Hazel for the past couple of months and called us over to talk with him on his carport. He wanted to know who we were and what we were doing. We started to teach him the Restoration and he felt like it answered most of the questions he had that caused him to leave his previous church. He's been reading from the Book of Mormon and felt like it was good, but he didn't feel like God was answering his prayers. We have been teaching him about the cleansing power of repentance and I shared one of my favorite Book of Mormon scriptures with him, Alma 37:6- "By small and simple things are great things brought to pass." He said that the verse struck him so hard and answered his prayers. He told us that he knew that God wanted him to hear our message and that it was all true. He told us how he's never been so happy before in his life as he is now. He's coming to church on Sunday and it will be the first time he's stepped foot inside a church in 14 years.
Robert Dale and Linda McLain- We baptized this couple back in July and have been teaching them the lessons again. They are growing so much! They love to study, even though Linda can't read well and Robert Dale is illiterate. They follow along in their scriptures every verse that we read. Robert Dale told us about how important prayer was to his quitting his 41 year tobacco addiction. They are on FIRE right now! They practically glow!
Wayne- He is our newest investigator. We found him last week. He is Linda's oldest son and would frequently walk through while we taught Robert Dale and Linda. Finally he sat down in one of our lessons and we asked him if he knew anything about our beliefs. He said that he knew enough to know that he should probably steer clear of us. We invited him to meet with us again and ask any questions he may have. We did, and he agreed with everything we shared about the Restoration. We have him a Book of Mormon and invited him to read from it. We scheduled to see him again last night and he called us to make sure we were still coming! We taught him and he LOVED the Book of Mormon. He told us he feels like it is true! We are seeing him again this afternoon!
I think the biggest lesson that I have learned over the past couple of weeks is that the Lord is a part of every aspect of missionary work. We cannot find in conventional missionary ways here in this area. It's "illegal" according to the police here. Regardless of that, the Lord and dropped these prepared people in to our laps! It's so humbling to see the Lord work on the hearts of people and to try my best to help out. That's the only way I know how to describe it. I feel like we do very little to help these people, yet they change so much! The gospel is REAL!
I guess the scripture is true, "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass."
I love you guys. 3 months from today I'll be home! But I try not to count. It's distracting.
Have a wonderful week!
Sister McElderry
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