Hi everyone! 7/10/17
One thing I failed to report as I was leaving Beloit was how me and Sister Winkelman got a flat tire on our very last day there. Apparently the tire that was repaired didn't't hold out. We were able to fix it and got half way but we still called the Elder's just in case. We were panicking just a tad because we were about to go to our last appointment with Alicia and to help introduce the same Elder's more formally. Once we got on the donut tire we rapidly drove to her home. When we got there we were still on the phone with our vehicle coordinator, (the person who takes care of the cars in the mission field) the Elder's having already stepped out and approached Alicia's finance. I silently panicked because neither of us really met him before and we didn't know how he would respond to the Elder's. They talked and we couldn't't tell how the conversation was going. He looked over and we smiled and waved. By the time we were done talking on the phone the finance went inside. One of the Elder's sadly turned his head and nodded his head "no" at us. We got out and quizzed them. They said how he wasn`t comfortable for the Elder's to teach Alicia and to not come back. After a moment of silence the Elder's started laughing their heads off and said they were joking and just got to know him and said how Alicia was sleeping because of a stressful day. I wanted to throw my shoes at each of their heads.
Fast forword to this week- We got a flat tire. I tried to convinced both my companion how I knew how to change the tire but they didn't fully trust me so we called a member. So now I've had three flat tires on my mission within the time span of three months! We're on the road again now though!
Updates on everyone:
We won't be seeing Beth for a bit, because her and family are on vacation. Carla calmed us and said she wasn't really interested anymore. As for Lacey, we've called but still haven't gotten in contact with her! Finally, here's the story of Bob.
We were looking for a less active and went to the wrong address and met Bob. He stepped out and tried to help us with directions. We asked about his beliefs and he said he didn't really believe in much but when he was a kid for a while he went to a Christian church every Sunday for a while and as he got older he stopped. We asked if he ever heard of The Book of Mormon and he said how he saw a TV ad for it. We started to share about The Book of Mormon and our testimonies and how we each personally are here because we know these things are true and prayed and asked God. He seemed very receptive and listened very closely. We asked if he would be interested in learning more and how to change and he replied that anything is possible. We committed him to read the introduction and he agreed.
Bob has so much faith and such a great desire to learn and find the truth. The next time when we followed up on reading the intro to the Book of Mormon he said he did and how he's been reading it on his break. He is in 2 Nephi already! We were way impressed and he said because we shared Moroni 10: 3-5 with him he wanted to do what it said. We taught him the restoration with the Wessels, a married couple, had so much great input.
The next lesson he shared us his notes and added great questions. The time after we gave him a tour of the church, it went great.We started our lesson and we taught the gospel of Jesus Christ. At the end we invited him to be baptized and when he came to know that the Book of Mormon was true- I felt prompted to ask that he already knew that the Book of Mormon was true, and he agreed. He said yes to getting baptized! We're holding back on setting a specific date because he wants his family more involved. He's invited his family to learn with him continually but none are interested. We've only seen the wife briefly once. His wife says she'll support him but will never understand it.Bob thinks that his wife will eventually come around though, and smiled and said, "We'll get her." also told us that when we knocked on his door everything changed. He knew we would send him a text, he said that everybody was surprised that he had been meeting with us as long as he has. He also told us that he has seen a change in himself as we've been meeting and that others have been able to see the same.
The last time we taught him the 10 Commandments by reading Mosiah 13 and comparing it to Exodus 20. He toke in the message really well. During the beginning of the lesson his 14- year old daughter was going in the house and said how she wasn't going to join us in the lesson but then her, and his 11 yr old daughter and her friend, came outside and decided to listen for a bit. They had never heard of the 10 Commandments. They were pretty fickle and kept running in and out of the house in the duration of 5 minutes, but you could tell the daughters were more interested then they wanted to let on.
We are SO excited for Bob and for eventually his whole family coming closer to the Lord. There's still some stumbling blocks, but he'll clear 'em. It's hard to believe that this has all happened in the span of TWO WEEKS. He hasn't come to church yet because of his job but he's so excited to come this week.
Jenny, a investigator who Sister Ward has worked with for a really long time and once was on date for baptism is struggling. We're doing the best we can for her!
Then there's the Carley's. They're a recent convert family that Sister Ward and her last companion taught and they are rock hard. Granite. They're a young family of four - There's Natalie, Ryan, who both are dentists, and they're two sons, Rhys, whose 2, and Chase, who's 4. They are great! Natalie is a young women's leader and Ryan teaches in Priesthood. They've both just have given talks in Sacrament and it was wonderful. They actually found the gospel by a blog post. Natalie was reading a post from a member testifying of The Book of Mormon and how it has changed het life. She was curious and asked for one and eventually wanted missionaries over. It's been fun to teach them more and to see their wonder and excitement as they've learned more great and sacred things. I love this gospel. I love our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and The Holy Ghost. Tight now I'm reminded of the soul calming lyrics "If You Could Hie To Kolob":
"There is no end to truth.
5.There is no end to glory;
There is no end to love;
There is no end to being;
There is no death above.
There is no end to glory;
There is no end to love;
There is no end to being;
There is no death above."
-Sister Kate Petty
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