July 8, 2014

Dear Family,

It has been an amazing day. I LOVE the temple. It is so so beautiful. 

I have like 10 minutes, so I'm going to write a speedy week summary:

Cathy- She is friends with the Elders investigator Sara. Sara referred her to us and we have been able to teach her twice this week. She is so prepared. Her daughter was baptized in Arizona a few weeks ago. Cathy has wanted to learn about what her daughter has committed to and knew just the right people :) 

Michael: This is such a cool story. We had 30 minutes left of the night. I hate the 8 o clock hour. People are so sketched out if you approach them at night and they yell at you if you knock on their door so it's always a little bit tricky. We had just gotten out of ward correlation (which is so amazing in this ward btw, the ward leaders are SO effective and efficient and get things done, it's amazing). So we decided to drive over to area 5 and contact. We stopped and talked to a group of 15+ high school kids. Big groups always intimidate me but it went really well. They weren't super interested so we kept walking. We saw a guy on his porch. We try to talk to everyone. But this was one of those situations where his porch was just far enough away from the sidewalk to make talking really awkward. But we walked up and said hello. At that moment a lady walks out and asks how she could help us. We told her we were missionaries and then she interrupted and said, are you mormon? And I said, yes! She leaned back into the doorway and called to someone-come out here, there are mormon missionaries. In my head I thought-I hope this isn't going to turn into a bashing situation...but lo and behold out comes a young man who walks up and smiles and shakes our hand. He told us that he just got baptized in Las Vegas the beginning of June but had moved out here to be with his family over the summer. He hadn't received any info about the ward here so he hadn't gone yet. He hadn't received his new member lessons, been to the temple, etc. So we told him about church, and set up a return apt for this thursday. It was so amazing to see how God literally guided us right to his door. I was in awe at how much God truly is aware of us. He LOVES us! He knew Michael needed to be re found and he led us directly to him. 

On that note, one morning for comp study we were studying about who God is and how to teach Cathy about Him so she can have faith in Him. We read a whole bunch of scriptures and came up with a list of thigns we know because of the restoration. i thoguht about it and was really surprised about how much God has told us about who He is. We finished our study and it was my turn to pray. As I prayed I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I was talking to GOD!! I could hardly believe that me, a mere human being, was being given the chance to talk to the most powerful being in the universe-who had created Me and the world and everything else. Who was perfect and all knowing. And He lets me talk to Him. 

I am so grateful for prayer and the ability we have to pray every day, anywhere, any time. Utilize that! My challenge this week is to make your prayers a little more meaningful than usual. Spend a little more time on your knees, a little more effort to focus and a little more patience to listen. 

I love you all! Have a fabulous week! 

Love,
Sister Andelin