October 22, 2012

Hey!

This week we've been working on finding a lot. We really wanted to get more people on date so that November can be super successful. We're working with a lot of great people right now and we're working really hard to help them receive the gospel of Jesus Christ. This couple, we knocked into on Wednesday. (The lady) was a little timid at first but her boyfriend was really open and excited to have us come in and teach. We taught them a solid first lesson and commited them to be baptized next month. We're seeing them again tonight and we're hoping that they're still as solid as they were when we first met them. They have two pet squirrels which is pretty cool and a son that we're hoping to talk to tonight as well.

(There) is a lady we knocked into awhile back who we taught a solid first lesson to and she was super ready to hear the gospel but her husband didn't want her to see us anymore. I've been praying really hard that his heart would be softened. Last Monday, we ran into her while we were grocery shopping and told her about our ward's trunk or treat this weekend and she invited us to bring a flier by later that week. On Thursday night we were on exchanges, so I was with a zone leader Elder Staker, in our area. We brought the flier to (this lady) and her and her cousin answered the door. Her cousin said she was one of us and we asked about it and she said she grew up Mormon in New Jersey. She was in Young Women's played in the Young Women's basketball tournament and even did baptism for the dead. She said she hadn't gone too much after she moved out of the house but was now living pretty close to Jeletha. I was super excited and invited her to talk to Jeletha's husband about it before we left. (The lady) called us later that night and said her husband had talked to her about being Mormon for the rest of the night and he was a lot more open to it and interested. She said her whole family would be at the Trunk or Treat and that we could come see her again. I'm so excited for her and I cannot wait to teach her and her family. I'm super excited for them and want to help her cousin get back into the church as well. We'll try to teach all of them at the same time in the future. 

We got a lot of solid leads this week as well so we'll plenty to do in November. (One lady), will be getting baptized on Nov 3rd as well as (one guy). David A Bednar is coming to speak to the whole mission that evening!!! I'm so excited! He'll also be speaking in church the following Sunday in our ward which is awesome. I'll be sure to let y'all know everything he talks about. This is incredibly, incredibly exciting! 

I'm super excited for Solomon and Amanda adopting Gideon! I want pictures for sure. I'm glad everything worked out for them. :)

The work is going so well and I'm just excited for everything. I love being a missionary and I love you guys.

October 15, 2012

Hey y'all!

Firstly, it's so great to hear that you are considering a mission. Missions are awesome and I really hope to serve a couples mission someday as well. I'm really enjoying the work here and it's been quite a rollercoaster this week. Early this week was pretty rough. We only got one new investigator on Monday and our numbers were just pretty low despite all our hard work. It's not about the numbers though, but they're good to get us a good vision of what we need to be doing. But basically early week, a lot of people cancelled their appointments or weren't home when we stopped by and stuff like that. We were kind of expecting the rough week though because of the 3 baptisms we had scheduled for Saturday. Since we knew going into it that it would be tough, Elder Memmott and I kept working hard and perservering through the disappointments. Because of our hard work and continued faith, Saturday was pretty much the culmination of all of our blessings. 

 

Saturday morning we knocked some doors in the time we had before lunch which was about an hour. The first door we knocked, this 16 year old black kid answered and we talked to him about the Book of Mormon and a little about the Restoration. He said to come by next week and he'd read some of the Book or Mormon in the meantime. Kids are great. They almost always have curiousity and are willing to at least learn more. They have open hearts and are often humble. It's always a great experience teaching children.

 

The next door we knocked a lady answered the door and just invited us in no questions asked which was wonderful. Her and her husband were there and we talked to them for awhile. Turns out the husband, is writing a book about God and Science and the relations between the two and he's using the Book of Mormon as a large basis for his book. He just ordered one online somewhere and got it sent to his house without a missionary visit or anything so he had a copy! After we testified of the Restoration he said he already read the book and knew that it was true. The lady really felt the Spirit and said she felt strongly about our message. We invited them to be baptized on November 10 and invited them to church. Yesterday the lady came and said she had a good time. We're following up with them tonight. It was such a good morning. But the day only got better.

 

We went to lunch at this little pizza shop that's really good. We decided to eat there every time we had a baptism even though it's slightly pricey. A member from another ward was eating there and just came up and paid for our meal :D It was so nice of her.

 

After lunch we met with an investigator we have, who is on date for the 3rd of November. He's 30 and really loving our message. He feels it's true and we're just helping him prepare to be baptized. He agreed to come to the baptismal service that evening.

 

After we checked up with him we had the 3 baptisms. Two of the three were ages 10 and 9 year old kids whose mom is less active and dad is not a member. While teaching them, we've been able to fellowship their family and hopefully get them started in coming to church more often. The dad is being fellowshipped and enjoyed a paintball activity with the Elders quorum Saturday morning before the baptism. He's had some negative views on the church in the past, but has opened up more recently. Hopefully he'll be open to being taught soon .The other person who was baptized, I've mentioned in previous letters and it was great to have him finally baptized after a few troublesome weeks. Their confirmations were yesterday and wonderful.

 

After the baptism Elder Memmott and I went to Wal-mart to print off the pictures from the baptism where we met this preacher while waiting in line to get our pictures. At first the preacher made a few cracks about Romney and then asked "all joking aside, do Mormons think they're better than everyone else?" we answered that attitudes like that do not come from the top and people who have that attitude will have a price to pay at the judgment seat. Elder Memmott then said, "sir, what if I promise you from the bottom of my heart that our message will change your life?" the preacher said he wouldn't believe him but then we were able to boldly testify and teach with such a strong undeniable spirit. Elder Memmott spoke so strongly that the preacher man lost his breath and was utterly speechless. He explained that Christ set up a church when he was on the Earth and using on Bible references, he explained everything that our church had and that other churches were lacking after the preacher said the Bible is the end all be all word of God. He was so moved by the Spirit, as he testified incredibly boldly. The Spirit was able to work through us to have him know exactly what he needed to hear. He needed to hear bold things. For example at one point Elder Memmott said, "you've been taught by wolves in sheep's clothing" When he was blown away by a statement by Elder Memmott, I testified that the Book of Mormon was true scripture and that by reading it, we can gain a personal witness of the truth of Jesus Christ, that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ's church and that Joseph Smith was God's chosen prophet. After I said that Elder Memmott said "if you believe that prophets and apostles don't exist, I would suggest that you lack the faith that Christ was perfect. If he set up a church that was fallible then Christ would cease to be perfect and you and I would cease to exist" or somthing like that. At one point he said his church was going to teach a class about Mormons and Elder Memmott said we'd teach it so he wouldn't teach false doctrines. At one point he just said "I don't have the knowledge to combat what you're saying, we need to talk again" and he gave us his card and we gave him our number. The Spirit wouldn't let him rebuke the word's of God. It was awesome. We felt like Alma and Amulek testifying boldly of the word of God. I only have God to thank for these amazing experiences that we've been having. I know that it is through him that all these miracles are brought to pass. It's an amazing experience, being set apart as a representative of Jesus Christ. I know this church is true. Without it, there isn't a clear and direct path back to God's presence.

 

Love ya, Elder Nair

October 8, 2012

Hey it's good to hear from y'all as always. It's nice knowing that things are going alright over there. The conference announcement about missionaries pretty much blew my mind. You could tell something big was going to happen when President Monson started speaking. But wow, that is huge. The work is hastening. These truly are the last days, I have no doubt in my mind about it. Since I'm on the subject, I'll talk about conference first. It was great. What really stuck with me this conference is what I need to do to prepare for the Second Coming of the Savior.

The world needs to prepare for this great event. It's a reality and it's going to happen. As the gospel continues to become more of a reality to me I'm starting to see the impact of things. I've always known of and heard certain truths in this life but missionary work helps things become a reality. That's the only way I can describe it. The simple words, Jesus Christ lives mean so much more to me now then they have ever in my life. The Son of God literally came down to this Earth. He walked and talked with people just like you and me. What a marvel that is. But just as these things become a reality to me, the visions of the last days do as well. When reading about those visions and seeing the reality of them, it's like a horror story. But we're promised one great promise. That the righteous need not fear. That thought just comes to my mind as I strive to do every possible thing that I can do to prepare for these last days. What I gained from conference is how strong I will have to be to anchor a family in righteousness. When famine and pestilence and wars and rumors of wars are spreading throughout the land, how will I have the spiritual and physical strength to go on without following the words of the prophets? My future children need to be raised in a household where they see their father's testimony and true conversion to this gospel. Dad, I thank you so much for that example that you have set for me. Thank you for showing me the respect and love that a husband needs to show for his wife. Mom, you've raised me so well as well. You've taught me principles of respect and honesty that I will take with me in this life and in the next. I can't say that I'd be out here on a mission without being brought up by you, my righteous parents. I know that it's going to take true dedication to this gospel and true conversion to be able to provide the same for my children in a world that's getting increasingly more wicked.

Share a faith-building story with us. (The lady who was just baptized last Saturday) wrote us a really sweet letter about how the church and us bringing her to a knowledge of the gospel has blessed her life. It really built my faith as I saw how blessed I am to have been born into the church and been able to gain a knowledge of the gospel in my youth through loving parents and teachers. As this fact becomes further imbedded into my soul, I realize how much responsibility I have. God didn't bless me with all of this to not serve a mission to the best of my ability. He didn't bless me with this so I could become less-active in the future. I've been blessed with this so I can serve Him. Throughout my whole life I have a responsibility to do His will. I cannot afford to take that for granted. I want to be able to go back to my Savior and be happy, looking back on all the good that I did for him and enjoy all the daily blessings that I receive from following him. This life is a time for men to prepare to meet God. Whether you want to or not, we will all face him again. I'm blessed to be here serving the wonderful people of South Carolina. I do not intend for my service to end when my two year mission is over. There will always be people in your life that need to have their faith increased and God is not going to come down from heaven and personally lift them up. He uses people on this Earth. He works through us and the more that He sees us following His promptings, the more people He will put into our lives to help.

Love, Elder Nair

October 1, 2012

Hey Parents!

    This week has been great. Things have been super hectic because two investigators got married and the wife was baptized this past Saturday. It was quite an amazing experience. I had the opportunity to do her confirmation yesterday which was so great as well. The husband did not get baptized on Saturday because he smoked on Friday but things are looking up for him and he should be able to be baptized this Friday. He'll have to wait till after conference to be confirmed but it will be cool for him to get baptized on his birthday. I think he'll do well and will be able to not smoke this week. His testimony is really being strengthened. Them being married and praying together every night and day will really help him accomplish his goal. We have a lot of people on date for baptism this month and we're going to try to get some more solid investigators on date for this month this week. Conference is a great opportunity to get people to hear the prophets voice and gain a better understanding of who he is.

1.  Where is the nearest temple?  How often do you attend?

         The nearest temple is the Columbia South Carolina temple. We get to go as a zone if our zone reaches our baptismal goal for the month. We fell short this month but we have high hopes for next month. I think we also get to go when our past investigators get to go through for the first time. I'm really excited to attend when this new family goes if that's the case.

2.  Is there a baptismal font in your chapel or do you go to a stake center or a river?

3.  Where is the stake building and who is your stake president?

          There's a baptismal font because we meet in the stake building. They're building a church in the Gaston/ Cayce area soon enough though but I may be gone before they start it. I'm not exactly sure when it's happening.

4.  Have you had Ward Conference? Have you had Stake Conference? When are (or were) they? Describe the highlights.
5.  What were some of the talks you most remember and enjoyed from Ward and Stake Conferences?

          We haven't had Ward or Stake Conference. I'm not sure when they are, whether they're after conference or if they had them previous to my arrival.
6.  Which members go on splits with you and Elder Memmott?  How does that work?

          There's this 17 year old in the ward who graduated high school early that goes with us a lot. He's looking forward to his mission and he has a lot of time to spend with us because he graduated early so he's really cool and helps us save our miles a lot of times. He has a great testimony and a solid understanding of the gospel so we'll just text him whenever we want him to come with us. As far as other members, we ask in church a lot and when people have time they go with us. Having member's come with us and invite people over so that we can teach lessons in their homes really helps us out and it's something I'm going to try to do a lot when I get off my mission. We'll usually contact people that we feel would best connect to the investigators. Like, people with similar backgrounds or who have converted from the same religion that they are. We always give those people a call when we have someone that we feel could connect with them. Member involvement is so important in missionary work because good fellowshipping gets people active in church rather than being baptized and then going less active.
7.  Describe any unexpected opportunities you've had to use the power of the priesthood to bless or save lives.

           One unexpected opportunity I had to use the priesthood was last Sunday actually I just didn't have time to mention it. But this recent convert has a non-member friend whose mom and grandma are both sick. She asked the guy if he could get some people from the church to give her a blessing so we went over there after church and I got to say the blessing for both of them. It was a really spiritual experience for them. The non-member lady had a whole lot of faith to ask us to do these blessings and we're probably going to get an opportunity to teach her once everything settles down a little bit over there. Aside from that an investigator asked for a blessing to help her feel better and quit smoking. She's doing a lot better and things are looking up for her.
8.  Describe any opportunities you've had to use your music in service to others.

            Music has been great. I've had a lot of opportunities out here namely to play for the fireside that our Mission President did at the beginning of this month, I got to play for the wedding and  baptism. Yesterday we had a combined priesthood and relief society lesson as well so I got to play for that too. The ward organist is really impressed with how I play. I always get opportunities to give Mom the credit for my piano ability. I'm really glad that you could teach me how to play the piano and keep me practicing even when I didn't want to. I love being able to play.

I love you guys, thanks for your prayers and support and have a great week

September 24, 2012

Hey parents! It's good to see everything is going well. Just email me Elder LaPlant's address when you get the chance. And also I don't need vitamins anymore so if you haven't sent them then return them or keep them for yourself. Thanks so much.

1. What is your street address there? I'm not supposed to share my exact address over email but I live off of Mack street. I'm not quite sure where Fork drive is but the chapel is on the corner of Sunset Blvd and Whippoorwheel if you want to look up those areas.

2. Does Doctor Collins have a recipe to help heal nerve damage? I'm not quite sure but I might see him tomorrow with some investigators and we have some really good teaching opportunities in his home. But he's literally like a genius so I'm going to ask him for sure. Can you tell me all the details of your surgeries and stuff just so I can give him more information if he needs it next week?

3. Do you have a southern drawl? Haha no I don't have a Southern drawl but y'all like rubs off on you really easily. So I do find myself saying that sometimes.

4. Are you saying, Sir and Mam? Yeah, for the most part I do. It's one of those things that you just get accustomed to really quickly out here.

5. Did you get your bicycle and how is that working out for you? My bike's working great so far. No problems yet.

6. Give us a list of people to pray for and tell us a little something about each family?  For example, who is Rebekah?

These are some of the people we are working with right now.

Rebekah- She's been investigating the church for a couple months before I came out here I think. She's married and has a daughter who's two and a son who's 2 months old. She's getting baptized this Saturday and she is way awesome. She was in the army for a few years and is wonderful. I'm so excited for her. Her husband Paul is on date to be baptized in October and we're working with him to help him stop smoking.

Mike and Paige- Mike decided to move his baptism up to this Saturday! It's so exciting because our zone goal for the mission was 16 and we were sitting at 15 people on date to be baptized this month. Last week our whole zone prayed and our prayer was answered this Sunday when he decided to move his baptismal date up. So Mike and Paige will be getting married this Saturday and then Mike and Rebekah are getting baptized right afterwards. I'm so excited for all of them! They're really on track to be life-long faithful members of the church.

Jasmine and Tammy are new investigators that we saw last week. They are both expressing sincere interest in the gospel and they really felt the Spirit when we taught them about the Restoration. They weren't able to make it to church this Sunday but they are reading the Book of Mormon and we'll probably see them again this week.

Jesse- The aunt of a recent convert Marvin. Marvin's this cool 17 year old guy who got baptized about 5 months ago. It's been tough because the family he lives with isn't too down to changing and accepting the gospel yet. But Jesse came to church last Sunday and we taught her a lesson on Wednesday I think. She's really interested and she invited us to come back this Thursday. We put her on date for October 20th. Her fiance agreed to join us this Thursday as well so hopes are high this week.

7. How is Sis. Frye doing?  Who are her visiting and home teachers? Sister Frye is doing well. We're still working on getting her to church. She doesn't want visiting/home teachers yet. We're probably going to see her a couple times this week. We have an appointment to teach her daughter who we tracted into who's not a member. But her son who's fifteen has been wondering about the church so we're going to teach their whole family. Last time we saw Sister Frye which was probably about 4 days ago, her husband talked to us and he's given the previous Elder's the cold shoulder for the most part from what I hear. So we're going to keep at it and hopefully get her to church this week.

8. How are you getting so many good leads? God has prepared people for us to be honest. As we do everything that we can and do our best to be exactly obedient, Elder Memmott and I have the Spirit in our companionship. We've gotten quite a few leads from knocking doors and testifying of truth and being friendly and open with people. There are hard times in this work but just not letting those hard times discourage me has kept me going and the Lord is blessing us. I'm excited to follow up with a lot of people this week. Definitely some great potential ahead of us. 

9. Who is the Bishop in your Ward and what is his family like (i.e. how many children, what ages etc.)? The Bishop in this Ward is Bishop McHugh. He's awesome from what I know of him. I haven't gotten much of a chance to meet his family but I've been able to talk to him and get to know him. He owns a pharmacy down the street from us and just gave me some vitamins for free so that's why I don't need them anymore. He's got a son who's the deacon's quorum president who I don't really know that well. But I'm hoping we can visit his house sometime so I can figure out who exactly is in his family.

Things went really well for the most part this week. Again I'm excited for all the people we're going to try to see this week. I hope all continues to go well for Brandon and his family. It's so awesome seeing the gospel change peoples lives. My mission has already been life changing and I know that it will continue to be lifechanging as I continue doing my best to do the Lord's will. And dad if you can email how your mission experience went I'd love to hear because I've always heard stories about it but I've never really gotten the whole story of it. I love y'all and appreciate your prayers! -Elder Nair

September 18, 2012

Hey parents! Let me just dive right in with the questions because this computer is running way slow and I won't have as much time to write.

It's a twenty minute drive to the chapel. Things are way spaced out here because we're out in the country……….. everyone is there before 9 o'clock.

I'm not really eating anything new. No fried possums or anything like that. Not yet at least. The most different thing that I've eaten is this soup made by this doctor in the ward. He's like a really really smart healer. He invented this laser that makes a broken bone heal…… faster……. ………… but he emphasizes being healthy and having the Spirit in the healing process. He won't treat anyone that isn't living the Word of Wisdom for example. But he made a soup of like barley and all these different vegatables. It looked really gross but it was really good. I think you'd like all his practices because he's all about vegatables and for meat he'll raise his own cow and pig and that's all the meat they'll eat for a year. It's way cool. He knows more about the human body than anybody that I think I'll ever meet.

…….. I'm still using that stuff I got from Sister Krieser and buying other face stuff as needed.

We loved the package. Thanks for the corny message too haha :) Thanks for including something for Elder Memmott, he really appreciated it……… I'll let you know when these Dr. Scholl's wear out completely. They're doing a pretty good job at the moment for everything else.

This week, finding new investigators has brought me the greatest joy. Friday night we worked really hard to find new people and knocked doors right up until 9:00. The last person we saw really seemed like she was waiting for the restored gospel. Unfortunately she didn't make it to church so we have to follow up with her on that. I really hope she gets baptized.

Our goals for the week include getting this lady to church so she can get baptized next Saturday and finding more investigators mostly. Mike and Paige are doing so great. They talked to the bishop and are getting married next Saturday! I'm so happy for them. Mike has just changed completely and they're going to be really strong in the church. I don't know if I told you this but he's on date to be baptized on his birthday, Oct 5th. Elder Memmott and I are really excited.

We've really been trying to think of things to help members. We committed this family to trying to give out some pass along cards this week. I hope it works well. But for now we're working on gaining the trust of the members and having them see that we're dedicated to this work…….. I know that through talking to them, bringing more investigators to church, and gaining their trust, we'll be able to have them help us out.

Overall, this week was great. I'm looking forward to finding new people this week and teaching them. We have some great leads right now and the leadership in the church is helping us get more member involvement as well. It's hard to get out to see (some investigators) but things are looking up because we've got some rides from members set up this week. We only can drive 1200 miles a month and they live about 20 miles away. 40 miles round trip makes it rough so it really helps when members can give us rides.

………. People find/ are led to anti-Mormon stuff all the time out here. That's why most people don't end up making it to baptism because everyone's baptist out here and a lot of them say bad stuff about us. We always try and give people Mormon.org pass-along cards right off the get-go so they don't look up bad stuff about us. But regardless, the purposes of God will go forth. I get a lot of strength from the book of Alma. When missionary work ever seems rough because people are shutting us down or things I just go to chapters 26-29. If you have Kyle's letter writing address send it to me in the next email if you can. I have to get off now but keep working hard with (that young man) and his family. I'll pray for them as well. Thank you for your prayers and support. Love ya  

Hey parents! It's good to see everything is going well……..  also I don't need vitamins anymore so if you haven't sent them then return them or keep them for yourself. Thanks so much.

I'm not supposed to share my exact address over email but……..the chapel is on the corner of Sunset Blvd and Whippoorwheel if you want to look up those areas.

Haha no I don't have a Southern drawl but y'all like rubs off on you really easily. So I do find myself saying that sometimes. Yeah, for the most part I (say Sir and Mam).  It's one of those things that you just get accustomed to really quickly out here.

My bike's working great so far. No problems yet.

These are some of the people we are working with right now.

(A Lady)- She's been investigating the church for a couple months before I came out here I think. She's married and has a daughter who's two and a son who's 2 months old. She's getting baptized this Saturday and she is way awesome. She was in the army for a few years and is wonderful. I'm so excited for her. Her husband Paul is on date to be baptized in October and we're working with him to help him……….

(A Man & Lady)- He decided to move his baptism up to this Saturday! It's so exciting because our zone goal for the mission was 16 and we were sitting at 15 people on date to be baptized this month. Last week our whole zone prayed and our prayer was answered this Sunday when he decided to move his baptismal date up. So they will be getting married this Saturday and then (he is) getting baptized right afterwards. I'm so excited for all of them! They're really on track to be life-long faithful members of the church.

(Two) are new investigators that we saw last week. They are both expressing sincere interest in the gospel and they really felt the Spirit when we taught them about the Restoration. They weren't able to make it to church this Sunday but they are reading the Book of Mormon and we'll probably see them again this week.

(There is this) cool 17 year old guy who got baptized about 5 months ago. It's been tough because the family he lives with isn't too down to changing and accepting the gospel yet. But his aunt came to church last Sunday and we taught her a lesson on Wednesday I think. She's really interested and she invited us to come back this Thursday. We put her on date for October 20th. Her fiance agreed to join us this Thursday as well so hopes are high this week.

(The older inactive Sister) is doing well. We're still working on getting her to church. She doesn't want visiting/home teachers yet. We're probably going to see her a couple times this week. We have an appointment to teach her daughter who we tracted into who's not a member. But her son who's fifteen has been wondering about the church so we're going to teach their whole family. Last time we saw (her) which was probably about 4 days ago, her husband talked to us and he's given the previous Elder's the cold shoulder for the most part from what I hear. So we're going to keep at it and hopefully get her to church this week.

God has prepared people for us to be honest. As we do everything that we can and do our best to be exactly obedient, Elder Memmott and I have the Spirit in our companionship. We've gotten quite a few leads from knocking doors and testifying of truth and being friendly and open with people. There are hard times in this work but just not letting those hard times discourage me has kept me going and the Lord is blessing us. I'm excited to follow up with a lot of people this week. Definitely some great potential ahead of us.

The Bishop in this Ward ……. owns a pharmacy down the street from us and just gave me some vitamins for free so that's why I don't need them anymore. He's got a son who's the deacon's quorum president who I don't really know that well. But I'm hoping we can visit his house sometime so I can figure out who exactly is in his family.

Things went really well for the most part this week. Again I'm excited for all the people we're going to try to see this week………... It's so awesome seeing the gospel change peoples lives. My mission has already been life changing and I know that it will continue to be lifechanging as I continue doing my best to do the Lord's will. And dad if you can email how your mission experience went I'd love to hear because I've always heard stories about it but I've never really gotten the whole story of it. I love y'all and appreciate your prayers! -Elder Nair

September 10, 2012

Hey Mom and Dad! Things are going really well this week too. I'm having a lot of fun out here serving. The time is just flying by. Let me answer all your questions first. ….

Elder Memmott's from …….. Utah. He comes from a pretty big family ……….He's been a member of the church all his life…………... He wasn't planning on going on a mission at first but then he read the Book of Mormon when he was 19 and found out the truth of it for himself. After that he had a strong desire to serve. He's 21 now and has been out just over a year. He's a great missionary and a great friend. We're really getting along and working hard. He's awesome.

It's been really hot and humid just as everyone said it would be haha. It's been raining really hard but really sporadically i'm assuming because of the hurricane. We'll just get random harsh downpours that last like 10-15 minutes. So that's been interesting and kind of exciting. It really cools off in the evenings though so after 6 the weather basically gets perfect. Some days when it's slightly cloudy though it feels great. The weather is exceptional today.

We visit quite a few less actives………. (This part member family, the man) is not a member and the former missionaries here were teaching them for about 3 months. (He) used to be really against the church. It's amazing how God can change and prepare people. This past week he's had a huge change in countenance. President Holm and a few other less actives/ recent members spoke at a fireside called "No More Strangers" which was just to help less actives/ investigators/ recent converts feel more welcome in the church. Through teaching him and that he's really set to change his life. We put him on date for baptism on October 5th. It's his birthday. He said all he wanted for his birthday was to be baptized. It's such an amazing change. When I first met him he said he didn't want to be baptized enough to stop smoking. But now he's determined to quit within this week. It's so exciting seeing people change and improve their lives through the gospel.

We're also seeing a lady………. who is working her way back into coming to church she says. She's a really nice older lady who just needs help getting the fire of her faith rekindled. Things are going smoothly with them.  

Our ward is a Ward and it's pretty cool. There are a few more older people in our ward than back home. It's quite a bit smaller too. Things are definitely different because the people are a lot different but it's all good. We're doing what we can to help grow the ward by working with the less actives and baptizing more people. Our ward meets at nine am so that's fun. I'm way used to waking up early now though with the missionary schedule so I'm alright with it haha.

We do go to ward council and we meet after church at around 12:30. We're hoping to work more with the members to find people. They're a little timid right now but we're going to try to meet with some people and get the fire going. Member referrals are loads better than trying to go door to door to find people.

We live in Gaston in this double wide trailer. We are out the country haha, everyone lives in trailers out here. People all talk with Southern accents and it just feels like the South that I've heard so much about. It's not very populated down here. We live about 20 minutes from the church.

This week seeing (one man) change so much brought me a lot of joy. It's really evident how happy the gospel is making him and it's just a testimony to the reality of the gospel in all of our lives. I want to share the joy this gospel has brought me with everyone.

I'm glad you guys are helping with (missionary work)! It really helps families feel comfortable in the church when they have member fellowshippers. I'll be sure to pray for (them). I'm glad y'all are working hard to further the work……... Things are going really well and are always looking up. Thanks for all your help and support.