Letters 10-1-12

Annie’s Letter

Hello dearest family! This week has been really fantastic! We have felt the spirit so strong and we are very excited about what is going on right now! The work is progressing! A couple of things... Sister Richardson is gone, one of the Sister's went home this week :-( and so her companion needed a companion, we have a trio so...tata. She will possibly be back in 2 weeks (transfers) I can't believe how fast this transfer has gone! It's just been nutty! It's been wonderful though. We have done some fantastic work thanks to the spirit. Here are some stories from this week...

On Tuesday we did some work in the farther out areas of our area. We met a wonderful woman, RheaDawn who is just as sweet as can be and had a great contact with a less active woman. Her family is really involved in another church and very happy, but they were very kind. They let us leave our car in their drive way and use their facilities and we just had a really good little conversation with her. Well, when we were done on that street, we went back into Marysville. We had about half an hour before our dinner appointment so we decided to go sticky note one of the members who just moved into a new house (down the street from our dinner appointment) and 2-2-5 them before dinner. We got to their house and decided we should just knock on the door and see if we could do anything for Sister Whipple. So we went in and she said that she was just waiting for Brother Whipple to get home so he could move a shelf upstairs. Well, before she finished the sentence we dropped our bags, grabbed the shelf and took it upstairs. Then we chatted about backyards, and how amazing their neighbour's back yard is and then we left to go 2-2-5. We went to the neighbor's house with the amazing backyard and Susan happened to walk outside at that VERY moment. So we chatted and she wants to learn more about the gospel! She knows how important church is and it breaks her heart that her daughter is not raising her children in any Church at all! We had a wonderful discussion about the restoration and then we went to dinner. We were 10 minutes late but this is a good reason to be late! We will go back and teach her, with Sister Whipple, on Wednesday and we are very excited.

Wednesday we knew that we needed to go visit Valeta (another investigator) who is just incredible and we set a time to go see her. But we knew she wasn't usually home at that time. But we heeded the prompting and went to see her anyway. And she wasn't home. Our backup was to continue finding in an apartment complex we had started near Valeta's home. So we went down and met Terri. Terri knows that we were sent from God to help her. We had a great lesson about the restoration, Sister Twitchell extended a soft baptismal invitation and then the spirit took control of my mouth and all of the sudden I was extending a date. Which she accepted! Since then, we had an appointment but she had just woken up and wasn't really up for an appointment... (I think it may have had something to do with her boyfriend being there, he is an alcoholic and I don't know how receptive he will be) We actually didn't know that they weren't married (they are an older couple) until Flo, Terri's neighbor (who I'll tell you about in a minute) told us.Anyway, I do think Terrri will be baptized but it might take a little longer than October 27. I think I needed to extend the date so that she knew that we are serious about this and we really want to help her and set goals so she can come close to Heavenly Father, which she wants so badly. She referred us to Flo. Flo is a widow, breast cancer survivor, and older than Terri. Maybe in her 70s. She is just so sweet and loves God so much. She cleaves to her Bible. We had a wonderful discussion with her about how much God loves us and wants to help and bless us. Our next appointment with her we planned to talk more about the Bible and then the following one we would tie the Bible to the Book of Mormon and give one to her and commit her to read it. Well, again, the Spirit just took control (how wonderful!) and we were talking about the Book of Mormon (and the Bible) and reading from them both and showing how they compliment each other and giving her one and she was quite excited about reading it! Yay!

We also got to see Valeta again. She is just so wonderful. She is really excited about the Book of Mormon and loves to read in it. I think once she gains a testimony of the Book of Mormon so is just going to soar. It's been such a privilege to teach her. She is very receptive to the message of the Restored Gospel. We haven't invited her to be baptized yet, the Spirit is constraining us but it will happen. We always want to and keep it in our minds but the time isn't right yet. We are going to help her with her house and have dinner with her and a lesson on Friday and we are very excited. She has also opened up service opportunities for us in the community. She works at a rest home and asked us to go in and sing to and with the residents so I took my ukulele and we sang and played and just had a grand time with the wonderful residents of carriage court and they have asked us to come back once a month. I am excited. I love these people so much. They just bring so much joy to my soul and I hope we bring joy to them as well (I'm fairly confident that we do).

We also saw Olivia and Mark. It's so hard with them. They have such great testimonies growing but they haven't really made church a priority. Any thoughts on how we can better help them understand the importance of church? This week we will be teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ with an emphasis on the sacrament and church attendance. And we have Miranda Hoyt coming with us who is a convert who struggled with a lot of the same things as Olivia so I think this will be a really good lesson. I love Olivia and Mark so much and I know, and more importantly they are beginning to see, the blessings that come from living the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. They just need to understand how important it is to not only believe it, but live all of it! They have been doing so great working on quitting smoking and praying, and their reading is improving dramatically... they will come around. I just wish it would be sooner. But that is the natural man. It's on the Lord's timetable. He has a plan for these two wonderful people.

We are also working with some families. Molly and Teanna are sisters and their cousins are Grace and Victoria. Both families are less active and all 4 little girls want to get baptized SO Badly!! They just have such sweet spirits. The kids are great and very receptive and do what we ask...mom and dad on the other hand are a little harder to work with. They work Sundays so can't take the kids to church and it's just hard. But hopefully Molly and Teanna's mom will be more proactive (she is so far) and that will help her twin sister also get more involved. We haven't seen Jared and Marie this week but we are going to get back in with them this week! They have such wonderful potential, Satan is working hard on them that's for sure! Satan really really really doesn't want this to work to go forward. I have never seen his presence so strongly as I have as a missionary. He is real and powerful. BUT we, because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ are more powerful, because of His atonement we can overcome ANYTHING! Satan doesn't stand a chance. He just doesn't. I am so grateful for my Savior, my Redeemer, my brother and my friend Jesus Christ. For His amazing sacrifice for me and for each of God's children. His love is just astounding. I am so thankful for my knowledge of my divine heritage and that of each of my brothers and sisters. I'm just so thankful for the gospel and for how much it really does bless my life. I am grateful that I have the privilege to serve here in the great Ohio and spread the blessings of heaven to every person I see. HOW GREAT IS MY CALLING!

Okay,

Mom and Dad, I'm glad you're having so much fun in this time zone! It's fun to think of how close we are to you guys! :-) I can't wait to see pictures from your trip...in a year. Speaking of a year... I TURN 6 THIS WEEK! I have been on a mission for 6 months. does anyone else think that's crazy? Cuz I sure do! anyway, it sounds like you guys are having a wonderful time. Mom, you're such a great missionary talking to Ann! I know you brightened her day! :-) I'm so glad you get to take this trip! It sounds like a blast. Plus, how long has it been since you have done something without kids? a looong time!

Megan and Justin, I'm glad you're keeping busy! You'd go crazy if you weren't! Thanks for being so wonderful and willing to always help out with whatever you can. You guys are so great! Oh, that pumpkin chocolate chip cookie recipe...really good! Thanks so much meg!

Landon, keep up the great work bro! I'm so proud of you and so proud to be your big sister! I talk about you all the time! Just ask Sister Twitchell. It's true. Plus...look at this cool street sign I found! 2 members live on this street so I had to take a picture! I couldn't get one wtih it because I'm driving now and there isn't anywhere to pull over on this street so... I just a picture of the sign. It made me happy.

Natalie, welcome to college! haha. There is a lot of work and I'm the same way it is really hard to study when you haven't really had to in high school. So rachel, learn from all your older siblings... STUDY now and make good study habits and college will be easier. But I'm sure everything is going great Natalie. I'm so proud of you! You're a wonderful girl. I know you are working hard and will do great! How is work? You haven't really mentioned it since you told me you got a job... I hope you're loving it. Tell Jon hello for me. :-) How is cross country going? I'm sure he's kickin' butt!

Rachel, you're so busy girl! I don't know how you manage to get everything done! But I'm glad you are having so much fun. Enjoy high school. It is a great time of life. I love hearing about all the fun things you're doing. Plus, I'm super jealous you got to play star wars for marching band. I bet it was a nice change from el diablo! haha.

Well family, I love you all and hope you all have a wonderful week. Thanks for all you do! Oh, and thanks so much for my coat and boots! and the bear! I re-named him Robby. And the fudge is great! Thanks so much! I'm going to share it with the elders because we will never eat it all! That's a lot of sweet! haha. So thanks from the elders as well! OH, I got a letter from ElDee last week, she had been in the hospital so I hope everything turned out okay. I love having her so close. And the Skagg's address is

51 Greenfield Dr

Milford Center, OH

43045

Oh last thing...could someone get on facebook and add the people who have added me (especially Sister Skaggs!) and also ask for Dayla and Muhammad addresses? I know you're all crazy busy but if anyone get's a minute I would really appreciate it. Thanks much! I love you all and I miss you! Keep being the wonderful people you are! We really do have a great family. We are SO lucky! There are some messed up families in this world. We are very blessed. Thanks mom and dad for keeping us together and raising us right. You're the best. Love you!!

Annie

 

Landon’s Letter

Hey my wonderful family!

So I decided to start my letter earlier this week. It has been very hard, very hectic, and a great learning experience. Two weeks we met with 1 investigator and the same with this past week. They all just decided to stop talking to us at the same time. Ok so we have been discouraged but I guess I needed to learn alot of patience. So the work has kinda slowed down but we are still putting our shoulders to the wheel and trucking along. I am always reminded about when I want to get discouraged to just keep putting my head down and keep pulling along. But we realized this week that we needed to fix some things. So now we are taking some time to plan with the Bishop a way to help strentghen the ward. There are atleast between 200-300 names on the list and alot of them are families. Now Satans been very hard at work here in North Bay and he has been very successful. There are many families that have been split up, many people whose lives have been changed, and much much more. But 10 from the list are consistently active. Crazy huh. So we are trying to build the church once again from the foundation up.

So today we had a good P-Day which included leaving at 12 to head out to the middle of no where again! But we didn't see a bear this time :( We ended up seeing the beautiful colors of the leaves. I tried to take pictures but there is no way a picture can give the full description of how it really looks. The vibrant colors of the red, orange, and yellow are popping. As we were driving out they have their "hills" which rolled out infront of us. I wish I could have taken a good enough picture but it looked like we were driving towards a copper forest. A bright, vibrant copper forest. It was soooo beautiful that it was really quite amazing. I absolutely loved seeing all the beautiful colors. So I picked some leaves and brought them back and put them in a book to press them. I did this earlier this year with green leaves and they didn't change colors so I am hoping they remain the same color. Dad I thought you might like this. At this members house in the middle of no where I saw a picture of a galaxy and was amazed by how it looked. Then she showed me a couple pictures in a magazine of the venus transet and that was cool. Do you remember that? That was fun hopefully we can do it again. In one of the pictures there was a picture of an airplane next to the venus infront of the sun. It was really cool. Then while writing this remember I said that pictures can't a full description of what these things actually look like. So what do all these other galaxy's look like?

Rachel good luck with everything. Don't worry you will pick it up and be better then me by the time I get back so you better be able to teach me. :) You might laugh but it is serious ha ha. Good luck with keeping up with Jazz Band, Swing choir and work. Man you are just keeping busy like a bee.

Natalie I agree with Annie, Welcome to College. But don't get too overstressed there will always be more on your plate even after you finish what you think to be the last assignment. Just make sure you keep some time to hang out with some friends (that is really awesome by the way!) and have some fun but don't let pintrist call too much because then you get too hung up and nothing gets done. Trust me I know because of facebook. haha

Annie thanks for being a great example. I love being your brother and there are many times where I think about how you must be just talking to everyone. You are a great example of a missionary. I love to be your brother I really do keep up the great work. (Don't worry I love being a brother to all my sisters!)

Megan & Justin I hope you are having fun with everyone being at your house! Just be glad that I'm not there you might go through things twice as fast as you are right now well except the eggs. ha ha. I have really come to appreciate family this month and I am so greatful for you two!

Mom thanks for being such a great, yes I will say it twice, MOM! I am grateful for all that you do in my life and for the great example you have been to me. It is really such a blessing to have been raised in such a great family. I am grateful for your loving care you have given each and every one of us!

Dad thanks for being such a great, yes I will say it again, DAD! There have been many times where I have thought back to stories you have told me about your mission and I wish I would have asked more about it. I am grateful that you have always put time aside for us in our lives. Thank you so much!

Well I won't be able to write until Tuesday of next week because Monday is Thanksgiving........ Ya Thanksgiving weird I don't really like it but oh well I will have to celebrate 2 I guess :)

I love you all thanks for being such great people!

Love your favorite Elder, Brother, and Son

Landon Webb