Group E-mail 8/26/13

Well I haven't written a group email for two weeks now. Sorry. The first week it was because their was absolutely nothing to say and the next week it was because we went to the zoo for P-day and we didn't have much time to email. But the zoo was really fun! Some members in the White Oak ward took us and the elders. The Elders in our ward are hilarious and so fun to hang out with! 

But you will never guess what has happened in the last two weeks: we found a new investigator, taught him all the lessons, and...

HE GOT BAPTIZED!!!!

Oh Yeah! Boo-Yah!

Let me explain. First of all the whole thing was a huge miracle!! (obviously). Sister Garlick and I were working really hard and trying our best to do what we were supposed to do and be good missionaries. And the Lord blessed us. At zone meeting this month, we set our goals for the month. Sister Garlick and I set a goal for 1 baptism/confirmation for the month of August even though we had no idea how that would ever happen. But the Lord has His plan. 

In our mission we have this thing called "Power Hour" where from 6-7pm Monday-Friday, we just go finding. It is a full hour set aside for finding new investigators. Sister Garlick and I have done it a few times, but a lot of times other things come up, so we don't do it as much as we should. However, about two weeks ago, we decided that we should do it. Sister Garlick was reading a paper that talked about how power hour works and noticed that it says to start power hour by going to a member's house, sharing a quick message with them, and then having the head of the household say a prayer and specifically ask for us to find those who are prepared to receive the gospel. So that night we went to Happy and Michael's house. Michael said the prayer -- the first time that we have ever heard him say a prayer. We ended up going to visit an inactive recent convert in the singles ward who we have been trying to meet with FOREVER and so we didn't actually go finding that night. However, the Lord still blessed us and answered Michael's prayer. That night while we were planning, some elders from another ward called us with a referral. They told us that their area had just been combined and they were going through the other area's area book and just calling all of the former investigators in there. They called this guy name Marcus. He didn't answer, but called the elders back a few hours later and said that he was glad they called because he has been trying to get baptized since last summer. The elders found out that he lived in our area now, so they handed him off to us. We were really excited and called him right then and set up an appointment for the next day. 

Pretty much what happened last summer was that Marcus met with the missionaries and took all of the lessons. He had a baptismal date, but something else was going on that night and it got cancelled. Then that happened a second time. And then both of the elders got transferred and nobody got in touch with Marcus after that. But he kept reading the Book of Mormon and going to church when he could. He is 18 and his mom lives in our ward. He was in the other ward last summer because he was with his dad. By the time we met him, he had been coming to our ward for a few weeks -- he had actually sat in front of Sister Garlick and I in sacrament meeting the Sunday before. Everybody recognized him and remembered him coming, but we all thought that he was a member. 

So we retaught him all of the lessons and he got baptized on Saturday! He is really awesome and a great kid. He was so excited to get baptized and was beaming at the baptism and on Sunday when he got confirmed! Also, he has a 14 year old sister who has sat in on a couple of lessons and we are going to start formally teaching her the lessons this week. She has already started reading the Book of Mormon and coming to church with Marcus and is really excited to learn more. 

Besides that we have an awesome new investigator in the singes ward and everything is going really well. Sister Garlick and I have a had a great last two weeks. We have been working really hard and have been really dilligent about planning and setting inspired goals and that has made a huge difference. We've been looking forward to transfers this week and wanted to go out with a bang. Transfers happen Thursday. We already know what is happening because we met with President Pingree last week, but I will just wait to tell you until next week after it officially happens, in case anything changes. The Lord is good. His work is rolling forward!  All is Well!

Love,

Sister Sylvester

Sister Sylvester and Sister Garlick's 1st Baptism!

Group E-mail 8/5/13

This week was one of the weirdest weeks of my whole life. So much stuff happened. I wish that I could tell you all of it, but I can't, so I will just tell you the really great stuff and try to help you understand why it was so great. 

First of all, Michael and Happy got married this weekend! They are the couple we have been teaching, that just started coming back to church after being inactive for pretty much forever. They are completely different people since I first met them. They used to be on the Do Not Contact list. But they had diligent home teachers who dropped off a message at their door every month. Eventually they started opening the door for their home teachers. They listened more and more until eventually, a couple of months ago, they started coming back to church. Now they are totally dedicated to the church, the gospel, and most importantly, the Lord. They are doing everything they can to become temple worthy. They were technically married under Texas' Common Law, but they wanted to make it more official to show the Lord, and everyone else, that they were serious about following Him and working towards being sealed in the temple. So the wedding happened on Saturday and it was great. It was really small and didn't take very long, but everyone loved it. Everyone was just so happy that this finally happened and were reminiscing about the long journey that has happened with Happy and Michael. Happy looked beautiful, thanks to my awesome companion, Sister Garlick, who did her hair and makeup. She was so excited and was on cloud nine all day long. We can't wait until they go through the temple!

And then there is Deborah... So last Sunday, Sister Garlick and I decided that it was time to drop Deborah as an investigator. She loves the Book of Mormon and meeting with us and has a testimony of pretty much everything, but she just wouldn't come to church, which was keeping her from progressing. We hoped that by dropping her, it would help her in the end. So Thursday (I think -- all the days blend together) we went to her apartment. A ton of her grandchildren were there, both teenagers and little kids, and there was so much stuff going on with so many people. While everything was calming down, Sister Garlick and I decided that we couldn't drop Deborah that night--not with all of her family there. So we were going to share a short message and then drop her another day. 

We shared a scripture in Mosiah about how God has given us everything and all He asks of us in return is to keep His commandments. Deborah was talking about all of this stuff that she had read in the Book of Mormon, and the whole conversation wasn't really going anywhere. Then Deborah said that she had had a conversation with her daughter, Montrice, a few days earlier. Apparently Montrice has a testimony of our church and knows that it is true. Montrice pointed out all of these things that she had seen Sis Garlick and I do, and all of the things that the church does and said that all of these things were things that Christ would do and how she didn't see any other churches doing it ("Ye shall know them by their fruits" Matt 7:16). Deborah said that this whole conversation made her realize that this was Christ's true church and that everybody else only had bits and pieces of the truth, but we had all of it -- the full truth. She told us that she had been trying to hold on to her Baptist church and beliefs and her old life and hang on to what we were teaching her at the same time, but now she realized that she couldn't hold on to both. She said that she was ready to give up her Baptist church and her old life. And she told us that Montrice said that if Deborah went to our church and joined our church, she would join, too. So we might just have two baptisms on our hands! Anyway, that lesson didn't go at all how we had planned. Deborah said that she would come to church when all of her grandkids leave next week. I really do think she will come. Also, Montrice will hopefully come. 

Sister Garlick walked out of the apartment and just looked at each other and said "What just happened! I'm so confused, right now!" Then we got really excited and freaked out. And we got frosty's from Wendy's to celebrate. So we are continuing to meet with Deborah and we will see what happens from here. The Lord has His plan. 

And we also got two new investigators in the singles ward that we started teaching yesterday. They are 18 year old twin girls and they are really awesome! 

I love this gospel! It is true and everybody can know if for themselves. The Lord knows each of us and our circumstances. He knows what is best for all of us, individually, and if we trust Him, we can have peace in our lives. Christ is the only sure foundation. 

Love,

Sister Sylvester