Crazy Storm, Eh?

Dear Family and Friends,

Our car was grounded yesterday. It was quite the storm! I guess this is a bit early for a big Minnesota storm…apparently this year is supposed to be worse than last year. Oh boy! I am enjoying it for now though. It is beautiful. It does concern me that the lakes have started to freeze. Someone told us last week that a few people build snow houses on the lake during the winter…not sure about that one. I know that ice fishing is a definite thing though! The storm yesterday wasn't anything too bad. It was just bad enough that everything was very icy. No one had plowed. Yesterday was actually our preparation day. We wrote letters and drank hot chocolate! It was nice to relax without the errands. We shopped and emailed today.

 

I can only send a short email. I am sorry!

Quickly…

This week during exchanges, Sister Bone and Sister Schwartz, who stayed in my area (I went to Bloomington) stopped by Pam’s. In the past, she had not seemed very open to learning but we repeatedly felt prompted to stop by her home. She has treated us so kindly, buying us lunch and dinner and talking to us about our missionary work. Gradually, we have started sharing scriptures with her and her husband. This week, we felt we needed to establish our purpose. Sister Schwartz and Sister Bone went and asked her if she wanted to learn what we teach. Apparently, she said she had been waiting for us to ask her! The Spirit had prepared her. She took us out to lunch on Thursday and we taught her the Restoration. She came to Church on Sunday! She cried during a lot of the talks. You could tell she felt that the Church was true. She thanked us later for the experience. She is out of town this next week but we will continue teaching her the following week. I learned the importance of waiting on the Lord and boldly inviting at the right time.

This week, Mercy said that she had lots of questions come up in her mind…Satan. She was worried she wasn't prepared for baptism. We assured her that she did not need to know everything. She has a great knowledge of the Bible and wanted to know how the verses in the Bible fit in with our teachings as well as the Book of Mormon. She had prayed about her questions. We took her to members’ houses this week who know the scriptures well and they were able to answer almost all her questions. Yesterday, we met again with her. She looked at us sincerely and said, I have decided…to be baptized but…I want to know more about the Plan of Salvation first. Relieved, we began to explain the Plan of Salvation in detail. We are grateful for her faith!

This week we bought a JEWISH man, whom we had previously met, a birthday present. After we dropped it off, he called and thanked us! He told us he would tell the story to many, many people. We later realized we gave him a CHRISTMAS mug…we died laughing. No Santa just Christmas Colors…way to go! It made h is day though nonetheless.

This week I have pondered much about the paths or choices laid before us and choosing the right one. Often, I think we find the "right road" as we act according to the knowledge we have received. If we go down the wrong road, the Lord will warn us or we will hit a dead end. That way, we will get on the right road quickly. Too often, I ponder the roads without acting. I wait for answers without "doing my part". I have come to know that as I act, the Lord will direct me.

Have a great week!