Sunshine and spring

Spring is here!!!! It is true, this awful winter is officially over :) now that I said that, it will probably snow again. Though my pasty white- missionary, tight protected legs have been enjoying the sunshiney days.

Kay did not get baptized this weekend:( We actually dropped her date a couple of weeks ago :( Because of some mental heath issues we have had to drop her baptismal date.  It is disappointing, but we are striving to help her gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon and receive personal revelation from it. Though, I do have to keep reminding myself that this is Heavenly Father's time line we are on, not my own!

We got a new investigator this week who we actually committed to baptism on her doorstep!!!!! Her brother (who is a member that lives in Missouri) sent her a Nauvoo Pagent CD that missionaries dropped off a couple of months ago. The referral was never updated in the phone system, so a couple of weeks ago we had the referral sent back to us. So, we stopped by her home, like I said, a couple of weeks ago. She was really friendly, said she did receive the CD and that she enjoyed it. We invited her to learn more, but she said her husband who was bedridden was anti- religion, so learning more or even inviting us in would not be a good idea. She did ask for a "Mormon-bible". So we gladly gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon and had about a 10 minute lesson on the background and the importance of the Book of Mormon that afternoon. She didn't really want us to come back, but we figured that we would check back in a couple of weeks.

Well, on Friday we received a call from the mission office. Her bother had called to ask to send missionaries again. Her husband was in the hospital, she was home sick from work that day. She had read some of the Book of Mormon and had a lot of questions. The request that he had was that we go see Doris that day!! Turns out we were actually in Fishers, IN at Mission Leadership Council, but we didn't have any solid evening plans- so that is was Doris became, our 8pm appointment.

When we got to her house, she was a little surprised to see us, but grateful. We got caught up with her, and figured out that she was on 1 Nephi 18 and that she wanted to meet with us, she wanted to learn more. And now that her husband was in the hospital, she was freed up a bit, because she didn't have to be home with him!! (This is where we committed her to baptism :)))) To make a long story short, at our lesson the next day we taught the beginning of the restoration and she picked her own baptism date- May 31st!! Her brother will be coming out to baptize her! She came to stake conference this weekend and really enjoyed it. We had a lesson with her yesterday in the Wilde's home (our ward mission leader!) and have another lesson with her tonight in one of our favorite family's home, the Olivers. She is so prepared!!! And she loves it, she is just absorbing all of it- I wish there was a Doris for every set of missionaries. I am so grateful for her brother's example and for his persistence in inviting her to learn more and in sending us over!! Everyone in our Ward has welcomed her with open arms- she says she loves the sense of belonging that she has- and that everything we taught her feels good that it feel familiar. She is just wonderful!!!!

 We have another exciting new investigator is Jeanine! She actually took the missionary discussions almost a year ago. Her ex-husband was a recent convert and wanted his whole family to join. Her son Bryant and her Mother in law Mary ended up joining, but she had some hurdles that were just too big at the time. Mary and Bryant have not been super active since that time. So originally we went to meet with Mary. Jeanine expressed that she feels like everyone joined to try to hold her family together, but then they fell away when her husband left them. We invited Jeanine to sit down with us and learn more again. When we came back she expressed her love for the Book of Mormon- basically bore her testimony to us about how she knows Heavenly Father loves her because of Joseph Smith and because of the Book of Mormon. So last night when we met with her again we were able to set a baptismal date with her! June 21st is the day! She says she knows it will be hard, but that she is ready to be done with cigarettes! I am so excited. I loved how even though she is hurt and almost a little offended because of everything that went down with her and her husband and the gospel, that she is willing to learn again and ready to make commitments to prepare to be baptized!

This week has been crazy and busy, but there have been so many miracles!! The Lord has prepared so many individuals to receive his gospel. I love the wonderful opportunity that I have to share this good message of great joy!! He is truly aware of our needs.

One more thing..... a quote from Elder L. Tom Perry "If they are within 5 feet of you, they have been prepared!!"

I love you and thank you for your continued support and prayers <3 Sarah

I know it is long awaited.. but meet Sister Bowen :)