Sandusky South

Hello Everyone!

 

This week has been CRAZY! Sister Bennett has been sick for a lot of it, but it's really sporadic. We'll go out for a whole day, then the next day we go to appointments, but go home because she can't tract, then we'll stay in a whole day. She has a doctor appointment on Wednesday, so hopefully we can figure things out.

 

So, something I forgot to tell you last week... Two days before I was transferred here, a HUGE tornado hit Bellevue. Like, touched the ground. I'm attaching pictures. Seeing the destruction is terrifying! No one was killed, though, which is a blessing. We've helped a member clean out some of the junk that was soaked in her basement, and helped a less-active family completely tear up their carpet. Bellevue was without power for days, and there are trees EVERYWHERE, because Ohio loves trees. Again, I'll send pictures. :)

 

Also, on my first night here we were tracting, and some guy a couple houses down from us saw us. I heard him ask his buddy, "Are they Amish?" Then he yelled to us, "Hey, are you Amish?" I answered enthusiastically, "No, we're Mormon!" He replied, "Oh, that's cool." Undeterred, I asked, "Do you want to learn more?" He said, "No," but the exchange made me smile. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ." :D

 

Last Monday evening we stopped by a less-active to give him an invitation to a YSA activity. There was a sign on the front door that said, "Use the side door", so we went around the side. Sister Bennett rang the doorbell, and I looked around the side of the house and saw a giant German Shepherd wandering the backyard, and the fence didn't look closed. All of a sudden, I felt this rush of complete and utter terror. I felt like something really, really bad was going to happen if we stayed there. I thought it was the dog, but later events proved me wrong. Anyway, I told Sister Bennett not to knock but that we just needed to leave, and we needed to leave now. So I nearly ran to the front of the house, and my companion follwed. Once we were on the sidewalk the dog started barking, and a woman came around from the back of the house. So, from the sidewalk, we said hello, and she started on us hard: I told you bishop," said with vehement hatred, "that I would have you arrested if you ever came on my property again." Thank heavens we weren't on her property, but on the sidewalk. We explained that we were just dropping of an invitation for her son, and she said that he was at college. Turns out she's been excommunicated and is still kind of bitter. It was probably the scariest exchange I've had my entire mission. I'm so glad I was warned to get away from her door, even if the Spririt had to speak to me through feelings of fear. A warning is a warning, and it kept us safe.

 

We went tracting near a river over the last two days, and my legs are COVERED in mosquito bites. We bought bug spray and smelled like camping when we tracted the second day. I have at least thirty bites... They like me more than they like Sister Bennett. Ugh. I'm glad that street's done. :P At least that's not a terrible thing to happen while tracting. I've heard of worse. :)

 

I love this area. It's going to take a lot of work to get it moving, but I love it so, so much. I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

 

Love,

Sister Kayla Richards

 

Explaination of pictures:

 

Pic 1 is all of us sisters who lived together. We took this the day before Sister Morris was sent to Bowling Green.

 

Pic 2 is our district (minus Elder Graf, who had just been transferred, plus Elder Richins, the temporary replacement, and minus Elder LaBar who took the picture for me) when we were playing football on the beach during a huge storm. So fun! We got back to the car and found quite a few "flood warning" texts on our phones. :P

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