Easter Week

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April 13, 2009

I'm surprised you got my email last week! I pressed send and there was 40 seconds left on the computer. The computer was "thinking" but it never said the email had been sent. I'm glad you got it.

Thank you for the package. I've been eating more candy than I think I did in my life. :D I'm feeling much better. I have been drinking a ton of water because I did not want to get headaches or sore throats but the water did not prevent it. I bought a water bladder that I keep in my backpack and it has a hose so I can have easy access to water at all times.

Time for investigators. I don't know if I told you about Barry Brown, but he was a large, let me repeat LARGE man. He use to play in the NFL, anyways we have been teaching him, then we didn't see him for a couple days. We were wondering where he was but then we got a call from his wife who told us Barry had congestive heart failure and that he was in the hospital. We were worried about his health but we were glad to know why he was not answering our phone calls so we didn't think much about him, but this week we got another call from his wife, and she told us Barry had passed away. I'm thankful for the gospel and the truths that we know. Even though we were not able to baptize him, I know the missionaries on the other side are continuing to teach Barry the lessons.

Tuesday we visited Shirley Payne and she told us an amazing experience. Shirley was at the store and a lady came up to her and told her to be careful when it comes to the "Mormons" because the lady had heard we worship Joseph smith. Shirley turned to the lady and told her "you have been misinformed. The Mormons worship God and his Son, Jesus Christ. Maybe you should look into something before you start talking about it." I was so proud of her! After teaching Shirley we tried to teach Melonie who has been lame and avoiding us, she told us she didn't feel good and then shut the door on us, so we went to the side of the road and ate lunch. While we were eating it began to snow! :0 Crazy! the weather in South Carolina is crazy! It will be warm one day, then rain, then tornado, then snow! I also performed my first service on Tuesday. We planted a tree.  :)  we didn't find any new investigators during the day, but we called Luis, and I'm not sure what I told you last, they change almost every day, but he wants to be baptized! We drove out to teach him and we had a wonderful plan of salvation lesson, so its great to have them as investigators again. Hopefully this time they will stay committed to the gospel.

Wednesday. We went over to the Busbys for dinner (they feed us every Wednesday) and before dinner we have an ugly tie contest. I received 25 ties from a man in the ward and I must say they are pretty ugly. All four of us had really ugly ties and for the first time in the Busby Ugly tie contest, there was a four way tie!  :)  It was quite funny. After dinner Brother Busby came out with Elder Bowles and I, and we went to a media referral for Rick Shuffler. Rick has a friend in UT and Rick went to Utah recently for a funeral. He and his friend spent four hours talking about their beliefs. we brought him the Book of Mormon he ordered, and he already had questions for us. He seems really interested, but he's either going to accept the Book of Mormon, and we won't have to work very hard (because he will believe everything we say) or he will find something in the Book of Mormon that he sees as a contradiction to the Bible and he will want nothing more to do with us. Either Extreme. We are praying for him.

Thursday we taught Hunter and Stephanie who used to be the other missionaries investigators but they suddenly had to move and they lost track of them and then on Wednesday night they showed up at the church to do family history. They want to be baptized but it will be difficult because they live with Stephanie's mother who is anti-Mormon.

Friday. Boy did it come down today! It rained really hard. It was quite fun though, I was in such a great mood. We had planned Thursday night to ride bikes all day long so we decided to stick with our plans. I was drenched completely through but the whole time on the bike I kept singing "There is Sunshine in my Soul Today." We stopped by Shirley's and I've decided she is completely crazy. She told us she believes she is going to be God's wife, and she told us a vision she saw of a tornado that is 50 miles wide and will destroy SC. It was creepy. I don't think we are going to keep seeing her. We found a man named Lawrence a couple days ago and when we first taught him he told us he had become really good friends with some missionaries a couple years ago, he even cooked them steak! We taught him the Plan of Salvation and it blew him away. I know I'm not supposed to judge the other missionaries that used to come over to his house, but Lawrence told us that they discussed the gospel every time they came over, but he had never heard of the Plan of Salvation. When we taught that the belief of only heaven and hell was incorrect he completely agreed with us because he had always wondered about those who never had the chance to hear about Jesus Christ. There is a lot of potential with Lawrence. There was a tornado warning Friday night and it was a crazy storm! The zone leaders called in a lock down so we had to return to our apartments early, and when we arrived the power was out. What a crazy day!Wow Saturday the Lord really blessed us. Within an hour Elder Bowles and I taught three lessons, and from those three lessons we picked up six new investigators! We taught Edna and her grandchild Trinity. They accepted everything we taught them, it was a powerful first lesson. We then taught Wayne and Bill who are brothers who live together and they are catholic. They both accepted the commitment to be baptized, but they will have to come a long ways before they will actually be comfortable because their whole life they have been in the Catholic church. We then went over to a leads house his name is JR, but he was not home but two other people were so we taught them and they accepted the commitment to be baptized, I 'm really excited because we could get the whole household to be baptized.

Sunday we only had Sacrament meeting because the power had still been out from the storm Friday. It was a great service. Edna came to church but it wasn't just her. She brought three of her grandchildren with her! Trinity, Billy, and Felicia. Their ages are 9, 14, and 11. they really enjoyed church and we are teaching them again tomorrow.  Wow I hope my emails make sense. I just ramble and don't really make sentences. Oh well.  :)  I love you all and I'm thankful for Easter, for the opportunity to celebrate Christ's resurrection.
I love you all!