Church was almost canceled....
AGAIN!!!! But, thankfully we
toughed it out even in the "snow-storm". What a blessing, especially
since it was fast and testimony meeting and COLLIN AND EMMA CAME TO
CHURCH!!!!!!!!! It was so good to see the P family there! They haven't been to
church in almost 2 years now. We have been working with them since I have been
in Carmel, so almost 4 months now and they have said that they wanted to come
to church for a while, but a member of the ward reaching out to them is what
made the difference:
Her name is Elsa. She is a good
friend of Emma's. They met a few years ago (I think they had the same
2nd grade teacher) Elsa found out that Emma was not active and invited her
church. Her family would pick Emma up and for a few months Emma returned to
church. A couple of weeks ago we had the opportunity to go into their family’s
home for dinner. We were talking about the stake goals focused on missionary
work, and in particular the one about extending a gospel invitation monthly. At
the end of our short lesson we were helping brainstorm what kind of invitations
their family could extend. Elsa decided that she would like to start inviting
Emma again to activities, especially after she heard how badly she wanted to
come back to church! So that is exactly what Elsa did! This week she invited
Emma to activity day and gave her a ride. Sister P came to the church to pick
Emma up. And this is where the story gets good. Sister P was welcomed with open
arms. All of the members said hello and described how glad they were to see her
there!! Sister P said when she got home that night that she now knew without a
doubt that the church was where her family needed to be. She described how good
it felt just to be back in the building and how she was determined that her
family WOULD be at church on Sunday!!!! And that is exactly what happened--all
because Elsa invited Emma to activity days. I am so grateful for her example of
member missionary work and her true friendship. A 10 year old’s invitation is
what made the difference in an entire family!!
This week we also had Zone Conference
as well as Missionary Leadership Council. Two full days of meetings as well as
an exchange seem like they might be enough to do you in for the week!! Again,
Sister Barrett and I were so incredibly blessed and met nearly all of our goals
this week!!!
Our mission has a new
"official" baptism goal for the year. It is 1 baptism per zone per
week!!! Seems easy right? We are so excited to have such a specific goal to
work towards! If we are successful this will mean over 600 hundred baptisms
this year in our mission!!!!!!!!!! (CRAZY!!!) Then again, the work is
hastening!
The success that I have seen on my
mission and the success that I have been able to be a part of is all due to the
members. It is due to their willingness to come with us to lessons, their
willingness to serve with us! Their willingness to welcome investigators with open
arms and show their love and their care for them! This truly is a member led
work and I am so grateful to be serving in an area where the members are so
excited about missionary work!!
Thank you for your continued love and
support! I am so grateful for all of your prayers and your letters.... I certainly wouldn't say no to more ;)
Love,
Sarah <3
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