Well Hello (:

February 03, 2014

Well Hello (:

Hello. Hello! Hello :)

Sister Davis and I learned a song that i think gavin will like....it is from a missionary cd called "the work"...it is similar to the baby Jesus song he learned a school and it builds as you sing it. it goes like this:

1 for the little bitty baby

2 for Alma and Amulek

3 for the tree in Lehi's dream

4 for the Lord that stands at the door

5 for Alma that came back alive

6 for the books the we call sticks

7 for the prayers we send up to heaven

8 for the boy that just wouldn't wait

9 for the miles we ride our bikes

10 for the 10 commandment

it is pretty funny!!!

NOW..........Let me tell you about the best week ever!

Monday:

Monday was a great day! We read the Book of Mormon with our investigator Dustin, and he just loves it! He really identifies with Nephi, because Dustin is also the youngest in his family and has tried to be an example for others. We had dinner with the Genobaga Family! They are from Hawaii and haven't been active. But Brother Genobaga shared with us his testimony and his desire to be sealed to his family in the Temple by Thanksgiving! What a great goal! We also were able to teach Matt! He still is having some set backs with the Word of Wisdom, but he knows what he needs to change and he is lowering the amount of coffee and cigarettes he uses.

Tuesday:

We met with Matt and reviewed the things we have taught him......it was amazing to see how much he knows and to hear his testimony! He truly is such an amazing person. He has decided to stop all of his habits and live the Word of Wisdom! After the lesson we asked him if he needed us to throw anything away for him.. He said no.. Sister Davis asked for his cigarettes.. He said he would give them to her.. We didn't know if he was serious but as Sister Davis held out her hand to shake his, Matt handed her his box of cigarettes!! We threw them out! He is so dedicated! We had dinner with our Ward Missionary Brother Allsop and his family! They are awesome! He told us that he makes the best chocolate chip cookies ever! But said he didn't make any tonight because we had to rush off to a lesson... We gave him a hard time about not making us these famous cookies... So later that night when we saw him at Ward Coordination meeting he brought us his yummy cookies fresh out of the oven! They were seriously the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever eaten! EVER! We also introduced more about the Book of Mormon to Dustin and Maddie! It was great! They are really loving reading together!

Wednesday:

We met with Matt and taught him about Tithing and Fasting! When we asked him if he would live this principle he told us, "Of course!" His dad raised him to pay his tithing, but he hasn't been paying it because he hasn't gone to a church. We also read the Book of Mormon with Jacob, he has a lot of questions and is afraid to ask us them. Hopefully he will be able to open up to us soon! We had a great lesson later today with Sister Tate and a guy named John. We had prayed with him last week and left him with a pamphlet, he read the pamphlet and we taught about The Restoration! It was great! He told us he would love to have us come back anytime, any day... We set up a time to meet with him tomorrow! Then we had a lesson with Sister Dolly and her son Daniel! We talked about faith and invited them to come to church... The problem is I didn't know that Sister Dolly really doesn't like Fast Sunday and so when she mentioned it Sister Dolly flipped and said she would not be there because she does not like that meeting! Hopefully she will still come.. She usually comes a couple times a month. We also had Ross, a young man in our ward, come with us to a lesson with Norma! We invited her family to join us and they loved the lesson we had! Norma told us she went to church with the lady she cares for on Sunday and really enjoyed all three hours! Such a blessing! She is excited for her children to learn as well!

Thursday:

We had interviews and that is always one of my favorite days! It only happens once every twelve weeks and it only lasts three hours, but it is the best! President and Sister Neider are so sweet! I just love them! I learn so much from their example! It is truly amazing! I know that we are sent to a specific mission not just for the people we will teach, but also so that we will have a certain Mission President! We saw John again! He is doing great! We introduced the Book of Mormon to him and he is so excited to read and learn more! He really wants to come to church, but he has health problems and is not sure if he will be able to make it this week. Later we met with Matt, he had just gone to the dentist and had all of his top teeth removed! He was in so much pain! I felt so sad for him and he had no one to take care of him! It reminded me of when I got my wisdom teeth out! Terrible! We met with Chermayne later and finished teaching her about the plan of Salvation! She kept saying, "This feels right! This just feels right!" We talked to her about meeting with us on a more regular basis to build her spiritual strength! So now we are going to see her every other day!!! Blessings!

Friday:

We had a lesson with Matt is the morning and afternoon! In the morning we went over all the questions he would be asked in his Baptism Interview. He bore his testimony on the principles we had taught him! He truly loves the Savior and this Gospel! It is amazing! The change in him is so apparent! We also watched the Restoration DVD with him later that night! He loved it.. I looked over at him during the part of the movie when Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father appear to Joseph Smith.. He was smiling so big! The Spirit was so strong! Later that night we met with Dustin again and taught them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ! They loved it and just love having us over! It is so great to see their excitement!

Saturday:

We got to do some really fun service! We helped tie blankets for "Project Linus." Lots of women from the ward were there and we got to meet a nonmember that lives in our ward boundaries named Mercedes! We hope that she will come to church next Sunday! Saturday was super awesome because we got meet with Matt twice again! He is doing really well with the Word of Wisdom and is so set and ready for his baptism. We also found two new investigators!!!! They were a street contact and they let us come in and teach the restoration because they had friends that were Mormon. Members' examples go a long, long way!!!! YAYYYYYYYYY!!!!! We ate a great dinner with Sister Taylor afterwards! She is such a role model to me of someone who wants to bless others in everything she does!!! As a spiritual thought we did the faith rocket with her and it didn't go too well. She dropped it in her rocky road ice cream!!!! Yikes! What a waste :) But on Sunday over the pulpit she told the congregation that through that spiritual thought that we shared, she had learned much, much more. I just love personal revelation!!!

Sunday:

This was one of my best Sunday's on my mission. Hands down. It was fast Sunday, but I didn't feel famished. I felt great. We were fasting with a purpose. We had ward council in the morning. Lemme just say: THE QUAIL RIDGE WARD IS THE MOST LOVING WARD EVER!!!! In the last two weeks, we have had 46 members come out and help us with missionary work. At ward council the high priest group leader said that Sister Davis and I should be news anchors because we work so well together and playoff one another. They say our conversations are like choreography :) They are just too nice. We had amazing miracles Sunday!!!!! First of all, Matt was planning on coming to church, but his ride didn't pick him up. You want to know what he did? He asked his roommate to take him!!!! He showed up a few minutes late and as he walked in, the Bishop said "This is Matt. He is getting baptized this Saturday at 1!!!" Oh it was so great! Matt was just smilin'. Then we had an amazing testimony meeting! There were a couple less actives that shared their testimonies and it was a tear jerker! After that, was an incredible lesson about the Millennium in Gospel Principles taught by Brother Allsop (aka best cookie maker ever). We asked him afterward if he would come to visit a less active that we found the week before. We were just slightly worried about this lesson we had set up because the guy named (Dustin not our investigator Dustin) told us that he was pagan, had been smoking in our faces, had a bunch of tattoos, and told us he just got out of prison #wedontjudge #memberprobs......so that is why we asked Brother Allsop to come with us. He has the priesthood and al,l so we were covered. Anyway...the lesson went really great!!!! We got to know them! They want to come back to church and it just so happened that they had other issues that Brother Allsop could relate to from experience and because of what he is studying in college. It was incredible. All of my fear was replaced with faith! Heavenly Father does know exactly what each of his children need......and then........we went to the Browns and had CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was such a tender mercy! That is my all time favorite meal and they had no idea. It was the perfect way to end our fast!

So many things have really touched me this week. I have learned a lot about agency. I am now coming to realize that agency is not just about choosing from right or wrong but instead, it is deciding to be obedient and choose the right. Heavenly Father has given us everything. I mean everything. The one thing that is not His is our agency. When we are obedient to him, we show how much we truly love Him.

Well.......I hope that you are all having an amazing week! Tell me about it :)

LOVE YOU ALL SOOOOO MUCH!!!

Love,

Hermana Tucker