Week 7(?)

Hello! Hello! 

So much happened this week, but I will try to start from the beginning! SO last Monday we went to the beach with Sister Kandare.  It was amazing as usual.  It was so funny, we started talking to some old men who were fishing on the beach and they asked us about who we are and everything.  One of the men had questions about family history and polygamy and temples and all that good stuff.  They were from Ohio and had ridden their motorcycles here and were completing their bucket list!  It was a lot of fun.  And they asked to take pictures with us!  And one of them was not wearing a shirt...so that happened!  Also on Monday we had dinner at Sister Gothe's with Leslie and Kenny! Unfortunately while we were on our way there we get a call from Kenny that they ran out of gas... so we had to go get a gas can and fill it up for them.  BUT while we were at the gas station we had a man ask us a question about the bible!  He wanted to know what happens to the people before Jesus came.  And we had an answer!  We tried to give him a Book of Mormon, but he got very awkward haha but he gave us his number!  The woman at the cash register wanted to take the Book of Mormon though!  So we ended up having a missionary opportunity all because Kenny ran out of gas!  Anyways, the dinner went really well and we taught them about Priesthood authority.  Hopefully they understood... you never really know with them. 

Tuesday was deep cleaning day.  Which is where they give us this huge list of ways we have to clean our apartment and we have to somehow get it all done in one day... let's just say we still haven't been able to finish it, but when you are faced with go teach a lesson or spend your day cleaning, you're gonna go teach!  We ain't here to clean!  We also had another lesson with Leslie and Kenny on Tuesday about...THE LAW OF CHASTITY. haha We were really nervous for this since they aren't married and had lost their titles of "deacon and deaconest" in their old church for not being married.  We prayed a lot for this lesson and wanted it to go perfectly and honestly, it did!  They were not shocked or upset by anything we said.  We focused on eternal marriage and temples and then when we led up to the actual law of chastity if ya know what I mean, and when we brought up marriage they both said that they knew they should and actually wanted to!  There are just legal complexities holding them back.  Anyways, the lesson went swimmingly and we invited them to start taking those steps towards marriage! 

Wednesday was zone training, which was really good.  Transfers are this week so sadly most of those people will be gone!  Three elders, including our district leader, and 1 Sister are being transferred in our district.  Also, on Wednesday we were tracting and we met a woman named Serenity!  She was super nice and we gave her a Book of Mormon. We are supposed to see her again tonight!

We taught 7 lessons on Thursday!! 7! It was exhausting haha. We met with Darlene and she even said to me "You look tired." and I was like "Well, I am tired." haha  She meant well I'm sure! We met with a ton of less-actives this week and most were on Thursday!  I won't get in to detail about the whole day cause that would take forever, but it was a great, productive day. 

On Friday we had a dinner with Leslie and Kenny!  They are the nicest people.  They wanted to feed all the missionaries!  But Elders and Sisters can't eat together, so we came and ate first and we actually ate at the church!  They made a big spaghetti dinner for us. So remember how we taught the Law of Chastity to Leslie and Kenny on Tuesday? Well... THEY FREAKIN GOT MARRIED!!  Yeah I don't think I've been so shocked in my life.  Kenny was like. "Are you going to show them?" and Leslie showed us a ring on her finger and I was like oh they got engaged or something, but no THEY GOT MARRIED.  The night that we taught them the Law of Chastity they decided to do it, so they drove to Tennessee and met her cousin there who is a pastor and he married them on Wednesday!!  To say we were shocked is an understatement.  They were like, "God laid upon our heart!" haha oh boy it was crazy.  However there are still some legal complexitites... such as they may be committing fraud but we won't get into that now!  All in the Lord's timing ;) 

Saturday was a slower day cause we were both so exhausted from our week!  It was Stake Conference this Saturday and guess who the visiting General Authority was? ELDER DUBE, (Who was at our last zone training conference :)  So we went to the adult session that night and Leslie and Kenny came with us and joined us in the Choir!  I have forgotten to mention that Sister West has been dragging me to choir practice every week... cause she has a beautiful voice!  It's not my favorite as ya'll know but it's been really fun cause Sister Gothe is the director.  She is awesome and we are so so sad cause she is moving back to Canada!  She is the heart and soul of our ward, so we're not really sure what we will do.  I am glad that I got the opportunity to get to know her and her husband before they moved!  Unfortunately most of Stake conference was about "ward council,” so of course none of that applied to Leslie and Kenny and I'm sure most of it went over their heads... BUT we got to introduce them to Elder Dube!  And he told them to pray about what we are teaching them.  You could really feel the spirit when he spoke to them.  I hope they felt it too. 

Sunday we had TWO less actives come to church!! It was amazing!!  We had Mary Brown who I have talked about before who is less active because of her health.  She is the funniest lady.  She said, "The Devil was on me this morning, but I said get away from me Satan, in the name of Jesus!" hahaha welcome to the south.  You get used to people talking like that, even the members!  And Sandra Hansen also came who is a less active who we have only met with once, but we were able to get a ride for her to come. Unfortunately, Leslie and Kenny didn't make it on Sunday :( They said they over slept. But the meeting was really great and I just love listening to Elder Dube.  He is such a great guy!  Hopefully we see him in this next conference!  We had another miracle on Sunday as well.  We went with Sister Hill to Mary Brown's house in the evening to teach Babbs and Ronnie.  Ronnie greeted us and sat down with us, but then left as soon as we started teaching.. :( BUT we had an amazing lesson with Babs about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and we committed her to be baptized on Nov. 21!  And this is only our third lesson with her!  She is SO ready.  She has experienced a lot in her life and she got very emotional talking about the guilt that she carries.  It was so powerful to be able to teach her about the power of the Atonement and how she can be forgiven.  You could feel how much she wanted that!  The spirit was very strong in that lesson.

This gospel changes lives!  It has been my favorite thing to see the change that takes place in people once they hear of this glad message. 

Although, things are really challenging sometimes, there's always something that makes it all worth it.  I am so blessed to have this opportunity to study, teach, and live this gospel every day, all day!  It is changing my life just as much as it is changes the ones that I teach. Mine probably even more! 

"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us." Hebrews 12:1 

Have a great week everybody! 

Love, Sister Dearden