January 19 - Letter

On Monday, we went to Bloomington and got a haircut, and played basketball, and after that we came home and had dinner and then we went out and saw some investigators. We saw a man named James, we met with his family twice, they were accepting and interested and we gave them a Book of Mormon and when we went back a couple days later to follow up he gave us back the Book of Mormon and told us his wife said we don't need to keep wasting our time. So that was sad. After that we met with Torie Tumie, the lady whose house caught on fire, and we had a fire good lesson with her, she is on a mission she says to be a better person and find Christ and I told her it's no coincidence we found her when we did.

On Tuesday, we worked out, studied and then we met with a lady named Adelfa Higginbotham. She is an elderly lady, she is Christian and she has Mormon friends. She called one of her friends who is in our ward and told him we stopped by and that she ate up the pamphlets we gave her so she really liked them. After that we did Family History and I think I found 5 people and put them on the Temple Ordinance list. After that we had lunch. We tracted St Clair St and finished Columbus street and went to a lady named Linda Eaton and shared a message with her. That night, we weren't having much success, until we went to Kristy and Cindy's house. We went with Brother Cutshall and had a very spiritual lesson, they are starting to know it's true and they're going to be baptized on February 20th :)

On Wednesday we worked out, studied and then we had District Meeting, the AP's surprised us and showed up to District Meeting, and then we went to Lunch after it was fun. We had a miracle this day. So President Hilton, counselor to President Cleveland, wanted to come out with us. He came with us to Jeremiah Cash house and Jeremiah is laid off and President Hilton has a man that has work for him, this is where it gets crazy, so me and Elder Coon met a guy at Longhorn Steakhouse when we went there with his grandpa, this guy is the Bishop in Franklin and this guy is the person who has work for Jeremiah Cash. So we might be able to set that up for him. So it was a miracle President Hilton came with us, and the reason he came with us is because he hadn't been going out with the missionaries enough and President Cleveland told him too because he knew it would help President Hilton and it did, and it also helped Jeremiah. After that we went to a Mexican place for dinner it was good, with Brother Norton and we also went to go see some investigators to get them progressing. We used an analogy on a person named Nikki, so I grabbed a Book of Mormon and placed it on one finger and said this is us trying to balance our life, and it shakes, it's hard to balance, but once we start reading the scriptures and praying, I put a second finger up it starts to get a little more steady, and then we come to church, and now 3 fingers are up and were steady and then we live the Word of Wisdom and 4 fingers are up and then we pay our tithing and now 5 fingers are up and were steady. I learned that from President Hilton earlier that day.

On Thursday, we studied, then we went to the Farm, and then we got ready and went out and tracted. We had little success, and then we had Dinner, we went to dinner with Brother Smith at the China Buffet. After that we went out and had 3 very good lessons, 1 with Torie Tumie and we taught her about the Plan of Salvation, that was the only thing she didn't understand about our church and now it all makes sense to her. Then we went and saw Tammie, gave her a Book of Mormon and she is very receptive. And then after that we went to Charlies, the guy who drinks a lot of beer and smokes a lot, and taught him Word of Wisdom, he told us he has quit smoking 5 times and we left feeling pretty good and we had a plan to get him to stop smoking.  

On Friday we had little success, Coon was getting upset but when we have little success and then see a miracle, it makes that miracle even better. Oh ya and on the night that President Hilton went out with us, he also went out with Elder Quick and Elder Palmer and they went and found Tony Butler, Tony Butler was supposed to be baptized a year ago, but he's a felon, so President Hilton came to the church, a year ago, to interview him and Tony Butler never showed up. So the missionaries went and talked with him and his dad went postal and crazy on them and said "You're telling me my son has to be interviewed to be baptized?!" but he just didn't understand. President Hilton went over and apologized and they actually had the missionary, his name is Elder Rowe, he's home now but they had him facetime to Tony Butler's house to find Tony Butler.  

On Saturday, we went to the Farm, then we tracted, and saw some Potentials but had little success, that night we went to dinner at the Stumpfs and then we went to go see Charlie. Right as we got out of the car, we knew something was up. We started talking and he told us our church isn't cut out for him but he wants to keep reading the Book of Mormon and he wants us to keep coming over.

On Sunday we got up and went to church, after church we went to the Waters Physical therapy old folks home and taught the people there. We met a lady that was interested and receptive and we said we'd bring her a Book of Mormon. She was visiting family there, so that was good to meet her. After that we tracted and this lady told us that there was a windchill advisory and that we needed to go inside or we might get Frostbite but i have all the warm stuff I need so i'm good :) oh ya and I wear t-shirts in the cold sometimes and everyone freaks out and asks me how I do it when it's 7 degrees outside so I think I get that from Dad. But me and Elder Coon didn't stop tracting, he said there is someone out here we need to find. After that we went to Jeremiah Cash house and talked to him and his family and his girlfriend. They asked us about baptism and now they're understanding it. And it came to pass that we went and saw Tony Butler, and Tony Butler was very accepting and now we're gonna get this show on the road and get him progressing and get him baptized! Very good week! I love and miss you guys so much!