4/10/2011

Hey Family!

Yes, it would have been nice to let you know, buuuut you know the rules about contact with family! So, don't worry if my email doesn't come on Monday, but if you still haven't heard from me the Monday after that...then you can call the mission home and ask.

I will get the tax forms turned in, I will probably send it today, so I hope Beki doesn't get a W-2.

Tonight I am headed to Dinky Town and Sister Xidis is coming to Oakdale. My companion is in charge of exchanges for the sisters, so I'll be traveling around this transfer. I will be in Dinky Town until Wednesday morning. Then Wednesday we have another meeting with SLC about the pilot program. Thursday we have specialed training for our zone with President Howell. It's going to be another busy and interesting week.

Saturday Moses got baptized. It was interesting because we combined with another ward (not to mention stake) who had a 9 year old baptism. But, the important part is that he was baptized and he received the Holy Ghost on Sunday. His wife came to the baptism and at the end Sis. Sorensen saw her crying by the wall. She went up to her and asked her what she was feeling. Her response that she had a "good feeling, in here." Pointing to her chest. Sis. Sorensen told her it was the Holy Ghost comfirming that what had happened here today was truth. (Her name is Sando Matee, but Matee for short) She agreed to come to church the next day and to take the lessons. She didn't show up to church, I guess she woke up late, but Sister Sorensen and Xidis will probably go visit them on Tuesday. I hope she will join too so that they can be sealed in the temple, that would be such a beautiful day!

Speaking of sealings! The Escobar family got sealed Saturday morning. We were excited to be in the session and really know what was said in a temple marriage...well it was great and the Spirit was there, but they did the sealing en espanol! So, I picked up on some words, but I'll just have to wait for an english sealing. They were so beautiful and were just glowing. The Escobar's have 2 sons, and the family all bore their testimony on Sunday. It was such an incredible experience!!

The weather here has been incredible! Yesterday was very muggy until around 4:30 when it suddenly cooled off. We tracted for 3 hours yesterday and had some interesting experiences. We tracted into a man who had attempted to end his life a few weeks ago and was angry with God. He wants God to give him a sign that He really exists, and that sign cannot be a feeling, but God or Christ appearing to him. We had a long talk with him and left him with a Plan of Salvation pamphlet. We will stop by again sometime. I hope his heart softens. We also tracted into a man who started criticizing the church. I didn't think I'd ever be able to keep a smile on my face while listening to someone talk like that about Joseph and Brigham. In all honesty it was rather humorous, yet it was sad that his heart was so hard. If only we could have helped him understand things better. It was a successful day!

We are teaching Cynthia and Mike. They were supposed to come to church yesterday, but didn't. We also stopped by their neighbors again, Tommy and Lacey. He is interested in learning, so we will go back and teach the restoration soon. Jeremy accepted the invitation to be baptized! We will set a date for probably the middle or end of May. He has a strong desire to change. I don't know if I told you how we met him. An older lady in the ward lives in the same building as him and he is always helping her out and driving her to church and stuff. She invited him to Red Anderson's baptism, and when he heard the name Red he was like "I knew a Red way back in the day..." (back when Brother Anderson used drugs). So, he came to the baptism! He saw the change in Brother Anderson and wanted that in his life too. He felt the Spirit and agreed to meet with us. He's doing great! The two boys are good, I assume. It's a different teaching situation. They want to read the Book of Mormon before we really talk about it, so that they know what's in there. They are putting in a lot of effort before we teach them. They don't want to just accept what we tell them, which is great! It would make such a huge difference in their lives!

The rest of our investigators are doing well also.

It's been a great 4 days since I last emailed you. I'm getting more and more adjusted to missionary life and I feel more like a missionary. It's so hard buying food off 150 for a month. I know it's possible, but if you want to eat healthy, it's hard. The healthier the food, the more expensive it seems to be. I guess missionary life isn't about being healthy? Haha, not to mention that some of the money goes to things for baptisms and other living essentials. oh well, I will survive!

The cheese making class sounds interesting, you'll have to let me know how that goes! What else is new? Sounds like things are going well. Good luck with everything at work, dad. Oh, I think I'll be going to the doctor in about a month or so to get Singulair. So many people have cats plus we will be on bikes a fair amount now that the weather is nice. Since it fights both allergies and asthma, it might would be a good investment. What do you think?

I still haven't found my camera cord :( But, what can ya do? Anyway, I'd better get to writing President Howell. Have an awesome week!

Love your favorite daughter/sister,

Sister Randall!