New Investigators with Baptismal Dates!!!!!

So many exciting things happened this week!! Again so many blessings :) The Lord never ceases to amaze me.

Transfers were this week, so we have another sister, Sister Ruth with us Monday evening and Tuesday up until transfers on Wednesday morning. There was also not enough room for the 10 new sisters who got to Indiana to stay in the mission home on Tuesday night, so we got to take 2 of them home with us :) Five sisters to one bathroom with only an hour to get ready is NUTs, but it was super fun to have all of them with us. It was so fun to feel these new sisters energy and excitment for the work. They really are so prepared to come out here and to serve!! One of them that stayed with us, Sister Clegg is getting trained in an area in our stewardship, so we will still get to see her and teach with her!!

So we have 3 new investigators with BAPTISMAL DATES!!!!!!!!!!

1. Riannah. She is 8 years old. Her parents are not members, but her less-active (but now returning member) Grandma, Sister Clerevoix is. She had come to church a few times, but never consistently. We went to meet with Sister Clerevoix a couple of weeks ago and BAM there Riannah was. We asked her if she wanted to learn more and she said yes. At the end of our first lesson we committed her to baptism. She said "Yes, I was to keep ALL the commandments of God!" She was at church this Sunday as well. She loves every minute of meeting with us. She ALWAYS has something to say though, it is kind of hilarious! Her grandma says that she is a 25 year old in an 8 year olds body. We were able to extend the date of March 8th to her just this week!!! (Which is a whole other story in and of itself!)

2. Cory. He is 12 years old and Sister Clerevoix's son. He came to church when his mom was active, but hasnt been for almost 7 years. We were having a lesson with Riannah and invited him to come and listen. It was so perfect because we were teaching the Restoration- specifically the Savior's Earthly Ministy to Riannah that night. He listened and asked so many questions!! He loved that the Apostles recieved the power and authority (the preisthood) to act in God's name. We talked about how when you are 12 years old that young men can recieve the preisthood. So then at the end of the lesson we committed Riannah to being baptized ont he 8th of March and Cory asked "Can I get baptized on that day too?" YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!! And they both came to church this Sunday and loved it! We are so excited to help Riannah and Cory prepare to be baptized on March 8th! (probably the highlight of my week!!)

But the excitement doesn't stop there!! Sister Barrett and I with all of these snow days have been calling lots of former investigators. Mostly we leave messages, but sometime they call you back and they want to meet again!!!

3. Liz. Liz is in her 30s and is from China. She moved to the United States about 10 years ago. She is super sweet but her English is not he best. She met with Sister in 2007, but when those Sisters got transfered she sort of feel through the cracks and hasn't met with missionaries since. She has read quite a bit of the Book of Mormon, but not all of it. She doesnt remember much of what she learned, but she remembers exactly how she felt. She came to church on Sunday as well!! It was a little bit awkward because she doesn't love talking to adults because of her English. She does understand almost everything, just has a more difficult time communicating back. In our very first lesson we met at the church and just taught the principle of prayer and God is our Loving Heavenly Father. She expressed that she hadn't prayed in years because she felt as if she wasn't worthy. The more we talked, the bigger she grinned. At the end of the lesson she exclaimed "I feel good! I feel good!" Though she does not understand the Gospel in its fullness yet, she is begining to experience and understand God's love for her! She loves how she feels when she comes to church, when she prays and when she meets with us. She accepted a baptismal date of March 29th. I am so excited to continue to teach her and watch her grow in her testimony and the gospel!!! This will be totally different then anyone that I have taught before. But so amazing :)

We are getting to know our land lord really well..... because surprise surprise our water heater went out....... for 3 days. This morning it was finally fixed. Never have I ever enjoyed a hot shower more :) (plus it lasted longer then 30 seconds......)

We have another investigator, Sam who is 9. (for some reason I seem to teach only kids.... hahah). Sam's mom and grandma just got baptized last fall. Sam attends church regularly with his Mom (well the weekends that he is not at his Dad's) and also comes to scouts. He loves primary, but he told us "I am just not sure how I feel about that Joseph Smith guy. Not sure it is true. I like the Catholic Bible." He told us this when we stopped by to teach his mom and shovel their driveway. We asked Sam if we could share a short lesson with him about the Book of Mormon. We taught him about Nephi building the boat and about how because he was obedient he was able to help his family. At the end of the lesson we asked him if he would like to know more about the Book of Mormon and the stories in it (becasue Sam LOVES his adventure Bible. He falls asleep reading it everynight.). He decided that he did want to learn more about what his mom beleived and more about the Book of Mormon. Just this week we taught about Joseph Smith and where the Book of Mormon came from. To our surpirse, HE LOVED IT!!! He retold his aunt and his grandma and his brother (who lives in NC :) the entire story perfectly! We gave him a Book of Mormon reader which he now reads every night. I just can't wait to teach Sam about baptism!!

Other adventures for this week:

1. We got grounded....again...

2. Got rear-ended in an intersection due to ice and snow. Thankfully no damage to us and only a small scratch on the car :)

3. Water heater went out

4. Have a new Elder in our ward who just came out. His uncle is our Bishop (SO EXCITING!!!)

5. Went to Sam's basketball game

6. Gave a talk in church about Missionary work (no surpise there....hahah) But more specifically it was about our new stake goal of 1 prayer focused on missionary work every day, 1 gospel conversation a week, and 1 gospel invitation every month!!

7. A member took us to eat at Chick-Fil-A and chick fila always makes me happy :)

8. Oh and weird... my trainer is now home

I love you all and hope you each have a fantastic week!!!

<3 Sarah