5 Months In!

Hello everyone!

Yesterday being Labor Day, the Library was closed, so we get to email during our lunch today! I have SO MUCH to tell, so I'd better type like the wind! (If you don't have time to read the whole thing, read the paragraph after the next. It includes a miracle. :D )

I'll start with yesterday. We went to the Melon Festival in Milan. Sister Frankenberry and I went there on Saturday for exchanges, but it wasn't a good contacting location. (Yes, her last name is Frankenberry. :D ) Sister Hawkins and I were IN the Melon Festival Parade on Sunday and gave out more than 500 pass-along cards. There were thousands of people there, that tiny town was PACKED, but we could only get the ones on the side of the road. It's the first time I've had so many people ask for a card, and only one gave it back to me. :) How many missionaries get to contact IN a parade? It was pretty cool. Then, yesterday, we went to the festival for P-Day. Our whole district ended up going, and it was way fun. We couldn't ride any rides or watch the shows, but we ate carnival food and talked and looked at craft booths. We had watermelon and cantaloupe ice cream, and it was really good. The festival is known for it. Anyway, it was the first excursion I've done on a P-Day since I came to Sandusky.

That night, we ended P-day at 4:30 rather than 6:00 because we were doing FHE with two families, the first starting at 5:00. It's a single mom and her two kids, and it was so fun. We played "Boula Boula", which is kind of like "hot and cold". After that we went to the Browns, a less-active family, for tacos and FHE. They have 7 kids, and all but the oldest are boys. It was CRAZY, but they are a good family. After that, we had time to do stop-bys and tracting. We stopped by a man we met last Monday (I'll tell his story later), and when he wasn't home I got kind of discouraged. I had made a deal with the Lord that morning, asking Him to bless us with an other lesson and a new investigator today because we were giving up part of our P-day. Not trying to be disrespectful, but asking for blessings for diligence kind of thing. Anyway, I was sure that stop by would be the one, but it wasn't. We were running out of daylight, and we prayed to ask who we should stop by to have that lesson and find that investigator. We felt nothing, and so we decided to go home and make phone calls, and maybe we'd set up an appointment for tomorrow instead of having a lesson tonight. On the way we passed a former's house, and their light was on. We decided to stop. The former had moved, but we set up an appointment with the new person living there. We weren't sure how interested he really was, but we counted it as a blessing and went to go home. But, Sister Hawkins decided to knock on his neighbor's door because their lights were on, too. So, we did... and we met Shonna. She let is in, we taught her about the Restoration, and we're seeing her again on Thursday. An other lesson, and a new investigator. THE LORD ANSWERS PRAYERS!!! We saw a miracle last night, and we didn't stop smiling until we were sleeping. We were late getting home, (we ended at 9:30 and still had to drive 20 minutes home) but I'm SO GLAD we met her. She told us we made her night- what she doesn't realize is she really made ours.

Also, while on exchanges with Sister Frankenberry, we taught Joshua, the first person I ever tracted into who let us teach him on the doorstep. We sat on his porch and taught him the Restoration. I'm not sure how much really sunk in because his attention span is a little short (he's 19) but we're going to text him on Friday and hopefully see him on Saturday, and then he would be a new investigator, too! Maybe we'll actually reach our goal of 3 new investigators this week!! Joshua has a lot of guilt that may keep him from being baptized right away, but he said he would if he felt it was right. He just needs to access the Atonement; he just needs to keep meeting with us to do it!! And he needs to read the Book of Mormon. I think that's what we'll teach him next! :)

S

peaking of the Book of Mormon, last Monday we met Mike (the unsuccessful stop by from yesterday). He was our third to last house, and when we knocked on the door he was on the phone inside. He hung up, though, and came outside to talk to us. He's a firefighter, works crazy hours, and has seen lots of hard things. He's Catholic, and talked about finding peace in going to church. I felt prompted to give him a Book of Mormon right there (which I've never done while tracting) and promise him that he would feel peace when reading it (like it says in the Introduction). We explained the book a little and testified of it, and he committed to read it ("rack reading", he called it, during his 36 to 48 hour shifts at the fire station). We keep stopping by him hoping he'll be home... Whatever happens, a seed was planted.

I know the Lord directs this work. It can be really frustrating to work hard day after day and see almost nothing come from it, but then we have weeks like this where the work wasn't any easier, but we saw results, or budding results at least. I love this work! I've learned that sisters really only get 17 months in the field, so I actually go home in a little over a year is all. :( I'm going to have to make the most of it!!

I love you all! Good luck! Keep the faith!

-- 

***Sister McKayla Richards***

"For with God, nothing shall be impossible." (Luke 1:37)