It's one of those weeks I don't even know what to write

Hello again!

 

Mom, your letter was hilarious. I kinda wish I'd been sent the gibberish before you noticed :) Glad you've had at least some fun in Chicago, don't work too hard! And I hope yall make it to Utah soon and the merger doesn't totally prevent that. Glad to hear every one's doing well at home, and as always Grandma is in my prayers. And it's awesome to hear updates about the missionary work- that's amazing about the Gomez family! And you're right, it amazes me to hear people's sorties of how they joined the church and what it was that sparked their interest, you never know what you'll share that will touch them. And that story goes to show also how important the actual step of inviting people is- if Gabe hadn't brought someone to scouts and he hadn't then asked his dad about the missionaries, it wouldn't have gone anywhere. We can talk about the gospel all the time but very little will happen until we offer people a chance to do something.

 

It's one of those weeks I don't even know what to write. Sister Arnold and I decided we need to focus alot on finding, which is a bit of a shift from what I've been doing in Owen Sound because Sister Tuisku and I felt strongly about visiting less actives. So we've spent a good chunk of time tracting and such and we're already seeing results! We're teaching someone new, Tara, who we tracted into. It was really odd because we have no idea what we said that interested her, she invited us back almost immediately. Sometimes I think I have to say something really intriguing to catch someone's attention long enough to really get them to listen, but it amazes me that sometimes just the fact that we're offering a chance to learn about God and have the spirit is enough for people to recognize we're sharing something important and want to learn more. And I'm realizing there's no wrong way to find, Sister Arnold says alot that where ever your faith is the miracles will follow, and I'm really seeing the truth of that.. I've been able to teach people we found through tracting, OYMing on the street, dropping by former investigators, and member referrals. It's amazing the different ways God works for different people!

 

This week I've been thinking so much about families this week/month. There are alot of part member families in the ward and our 2 main investigators are both single dads, so we discuss how much the gospel blesses families aLOT. I want so badly to help these people share this with their kids and families because I look back on how having a family centered on the gospel blessed me. In gospel principles we were teaching about scriptures and ended up talking about family scripture study. I know we've never been exactly perfect at that, but I have so many memories of sitting and listening to dad read the scriptures, and even when I didn't listen at all that affected me. I talked about waking up on Saturdays and coming down stairs and seeing Mom studying in the living room and how that really affected me. And I can't even begin to explain how much Joe and Melissa serving a mission helped me to go, because when the prompting came I didn't even really have to think about it because their stories of deciding to serve how taught me that there's really no reason to not serve if you're supposed to. So this week we've gotten to have some really great discussions with people about inviting their families and I'm praying so much to be able to help them do that!

 

Well, that's really all I can think about this week./ Sister Arnold and I continue to be fantastic! Owen Sound is even more amazing that when I first got here! Love you all and will talk to you next week!