IT"S SUCH A PRIVILEGE!!!

Hey Family & Friends!!!

I'm glad the funeral went well! Well... with all the family stuff at home going on I really haven't been distracted by anything so that has been nice! Everything is great! 

Well. This week was great!! We had insane numbers! 7 new investigators and 22 lessons all together! Not to mention we are teaching a GOLDEN investigator who set a date which is in 3 weeks!! Quite unheard of around here! 😊 I'll tell you about him later! But first I wanted to say that the Lord has blessed us so much.. After that week and a half of just nothing, He has given us people to teach. People who are prepared by His hand to receive the gospel. It's so amazing to see how the Lord works. I feel so blessed to be able to work so closely with Him. It's such a privilege!! 

So new people!! Marguerite! She lives just down the street from us. I actually met her my second day here when we were tracting on exchanges! Interesting how that works... But yeah!! She is a single mom with a kid named Cam. We had been trying to meet with them for weeks. Then finally we were able to get together. So she had met with missionaries in the past but while she and her husband's marriage was falling apart and it's just a terrible, terrible story... Everyone needs the gospel.. Anyway!! So we talked about the Book Of Mormon and promised her that peace will come into her life when she makes it a priority. She had been talking about how  then she went to a Baptist Church here in town, she felt really peaceful and just at the top of her game. But then her life started falling apart and she just lost that feeling. But when we promised her that peace and closeness with God again she was completely committed to read it. It was cool... People just hunger for that closeness to God and peace from the scary world we live in. They don't always see it as being close to God but that's what they describe to us. Little do they know we have all the answers!! But we can only fill that void when we get close to our Heavenly Father and study His word.  I have seen that more and more out here with different people and the things that they have gone through.. It's really sad.. 

Anyway!!! On a MUCH happier note!! AUSTIN!! He is our golden! Aw! I just love him so much! He and this girl in our ward are together and he's been coming to church with the Reid's for a few months now. From what we have heard he has had a really hard life. He and His parents relationship are struggling... So we started teaching him and before we even got to the baptism part he was like "I really want to be baptized.." Haha.. Welp!!! There ya go! It never happens that they invite themselves to be baptized.. It's kinda nice when that happens!! But yeah! So we were like "OKAY!! Pick a date!!" So he was looking at it and he's like August 7th!!"  Hahahaha!! We were a little blown away.. Haha. We told him we needed to teach him a lot before that time so maybe the 21st would be better! So he said that was great! And we are roll'in with it! Ever since then Satan has been a jerk and turned his parents against him and they kicked him out.. So. He has been living at the Reid's while his girlfriend was in Oregon. But he found a place to stay since she is home now - that would be a disaster waiting to happen if he stayed with her parents... Anyway!! So yeah! We've been teaching him and he is just a sponge!!! O man! I love teaching him because he just understands everything so well and he is so close to the Spirit! He already knows what it feels like to have the Spirit near and he knows that what we are teaching is right and that this is what Heavenly Father wants for him!! Man! What a privilege!! So blessed.. 

Then Sister Bingham!! Haha... Ohh boy. There is never a dull moment with her! Haha!!! So we met with her and she made us fried chicken!!! Oh. My. Good Ghandi!!! It was SOOO good!! And the most classy dinner I've ever eaten even though it was fried chicken! That's what one of the pictures I sent to ya! Haha. So she is pretty classy!! So ...She's my favorite! But she is from somewhere in South America and is super sassy (just like someone else you know ... yep you got it!!) so that makes everything more exciting! 😄 She loves having us over. I don't really even know why. She calls us her Angels so that's cute! I just love her a lot. She also came to  church with us again this week!! Which really is quite the miracle. She is really prepared to come back to church. We talked about the temple and invited her to prepare to make it there. She said yes. But with time. It kind of scares her a little I think. 

We are also seeing Carol! She's so funny!! She seems really interested so it should be exciting!! 

Well! Here's your food for thought!! "If you have a twenty-hour-a-week television habit and would repent and convert it into a gospel-study habit, in one year you could read the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price, and the entire Bible. In addition, you could read Jesus the Christ, The Articles of Faith, Gospel Principles, the basic priesthood manual, the basic women’s manual, the basic children’s manual, all three volumes of Doctrines of  Salvation, The Miracle of Forgiveness, The Promised Messiah, and Essentials in Church History, and could then reread the Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price. This would still leave time to read the Ensign, the New Era, and the Friend each month and the Church News each week. This is based on your ability to read only ten pages an hour. The average person can read twenty pages or more an hour. If you are average, this leaves you with ten hours a week to govern yourself in other kingdom-building activities, such as keeping a personal journal, genealogy and temple work, improved home teaching, welfare services, civic and patriotic involvement to protect our freedom, and much more." - The Governing Ones October 1979 William R. Bradford 

We can all do better at studying and being in the world and not of it.. It's really hard!! 

I love you guys!! Miss ya tons! Your always in my prayers!!

Love,  Sister Hood!