July 14, 2014

Dearest Family!

        Oh my goodness gracious this week has been LONG! So so good but long! Where to begin...ok So I remember telling mom about Austin in a short email..but not everyone else, so let me begin with Austin! Last preparation day Austin called the mission home and wanted to learn more. He is from Washington, but is living in Bozeman. He was on the phone with Sister Kite a senior missionary and he wanted to learn more right then, so literally right after I sent out my main email Sister Kite ran in and said, " I need you to teach a lesson right now!" So I went out and grabbed the phone. I asked him what his questions were and this was his response" Well...maybe my questions don't have answers or maybe I am not allowed to ask, is it ok to ask questions?" He was so nervous on the phone, and So I shared just a little bit of the Joseph Smith story with him and explained that if Joseph did not ask his question that we would not have this wonderful gospel on the earth. That made sense to him and this is when he started to feel the spirit. We transitioned phones, so we could talk to him on our cell phone on speaker to teach him. We went into the lobby and he asked his question. He asked "Where do we come from...like what is the point?" And that is where the plan of salvation came in! We started explaining how Heavenly Father loves us and that he is our father! That we needed to come to earth to keep learning and progressing. We mainly taught about where we came from and why we are here. He was so happy, and felt the spirit so strong. He explained that when he called he did not realize that this would be happening. I can guess that he thought he would just get a school like answer, but instead he felt the spirit. He was crying on the phone and trying to explain the holy ghost to us... He had no idea what it was. He said, I have never felt this before. We opened up to Galatians 5 and read the scripture that described the fruits of the spirit and he said "That is it! That is what I am feeling!" We explained that it was the Holy ghost and that the holy ghost testifies of truth, so that he knows that this is true, what he is learning is true! He just completely broke down and was crying. We asked if we could send missionaries and he said yes..but his girlfriend is not very happy with him.. cause she told him he could look into any church except ours..she is baptist. He was leaving the next day for a business trip so we scheduled another phone lesson for 10 am the next day before he left. Then when he comes home we will turn him over to the elders. That was honestly one of the most powerful lessons of my mission..if not the most powerful! Teaching him just flowed so well..Sister De Bry and I have never taught that well together..not like we are bad..but that lesson was just great and I know it is because of the Holy Ghost testifying to Austin that what he was learning was true.

     On Monday Dallas..our homeless investigator called us and told us he wanted to be baptized so we ran over there and we put him on date for the 26th..but before I get your hopes up...we had to take him off date..cause he admitted some stuff to us that he had done in the past and can't be baptized at this time. Our lessons went crazy with him too...he thinks we are scared of him now and won't talk to us...Sister De Bry wants to see him and teach him....but I feel like if he is in this depression...we need to be safe our selves cause we have heard stories about what he does when he is angry. I have felt really scared about it...but finally today I feel a little better, so I guess we will go see him...with priesthood holders. Dallas bark tends to be a lot worse than his bite..so I doubt he really would do anything...but I have just had this bad feeling...ya know? So we are going to be very cautious.

    Now back to Austin! On Tuesday we taught Austin again! It was amazing! We wanted to make sure the Bozeman elders knew what was happening since he will be their investigator, we planned a lesson with them, to make sure they knew what we would be teaching .We planned on teaching the restoration up to the apostasy, but we wanted to save the Joseph Smith First Vision for a face to face visit. Well we started teaching him the first lesson, and it made total sense to him! He just ate it up. We taught up to the apostasy and it just could not end! We felt so prompted to continue with the lesson. I had the privilege of quoting the First Vision.  Honestly I have never felt the spirit that strong, not even joking. It is so amazing that even though he was on his way to the airport in a car in Bozeman, that we could have this wonderful lesson over the phone and the spirit was still so strong! Austin broke down again, and bore his testimony to us! About how he knows that that is true! Sister De Bry asked how he felt and he said "It is that same feeling from yesterday!" We testified of the holy ghost and committed him to baptism, he accepted :) This is seriously the coolest experience of my mission! We explained that we have prophet today and his name is Thomas S Monsen. I have never heard such a wonderful reply to that, usually it just throws people off but his exact words were "This is so exciting!" I honestly don't think anyone could ever be quite as prepared as Austin! haha!  He is amazing. We taught about the book of Mormon and he told us he needed to begin reading it right then. But we had no way to get him one right then, so we told him about the book of Mormon app he could download, and he did. He asked where he should begin and we told him just the beginning. He offered the closing prayer and it was wonderful :)

          Tuesday evening we had another phenomenal experience. In my last email I think i mentioned Natasha. She came to church with the elders last week. Well she had gone to church 3 times with them and once with us. Yet she had not been asked about baptism, so Sister De Bry prayed about if she was ready, after all she has been taught for a while right...? haha,  So we prayed about a date and July 19th came to our minds. We both had a confirmation that she could make that day and be prepared for that day. We had a wonderful lesson on the gospel of Jesus Christ with her and at the end we talked about baptism. She accepted, and then we talked specifically about July 19th. She was a little unsure about that, so we asked if we could pray about it. Which I have never actually done with an investigator who has told me no...So I was a little worried. Natasha said the prayer, and after we all just sat quietly with our heads down, to ponder. She was the last one to lift her head up. I will admit sadly I was still nervous and I want it to be the right thing for her, so I asked her if it was right or if she had a different day. She looked at us with confidence and said "Well I just had this feeling like, if God can change someone in one minute, than he can change me in two weeks." AMAZING!!!! That was so powerful to feel the spirit there when she answered the question, cause she received her answer by the holy ghost as well :) We found out later that she called the elders who used to teach her and told them about her baptism and she was so excited and told them she knows it is right.

      We taught Natasha on Wednesday as well. We taught her the word of wisdom, and she accepted it...she was like "eh I don't need coffee..I only drink it once a month anyways." She is just amazing! We taught Austin again on Wednesday, he texted us and said  that he had read the intro and the testimonies and the Joseph smith testimony! That was impressive! Usually people take a while reading those. He told us the last two paragraphs of the intro were his favorite cause it just showed how serious it was to read the book of Mormon. (These are the invitation paragraphs we share with so many people, and he loved them without us even mentioning them! That is cool)! He asked for another lesson, so we taught him the gospel of Jesus Christ and he again cried. I just think that is cool that over the phone we can still feel the spirit even over the phone. He told us he would try to go to church on Sunday..and guess what! We got a text from him yesterday, he is in St Louis, on his business trip and he found time to go! He went to church and said it felt like home! Sister De Bry and I have already decided that when he is baptized we are going to Bozeman to be there! haha, I just have to be there! He is so awesome!

      On Friday it was the ward temple trip, so they went to do baptisms. I got special permission to go because Korrin was going for the first time and Eliza Cannell was also going for the first time and I have worked with them since I got here. Sadly It was at 6 pm..and we had dinner at 5 at Red Lobster all the way across town..and restaurants always take forever, which don't get me wrong I am so grateful that someone fed us dinner haha. But we did not get to the temple till 6:45. When we got in I saw Eliza and her wet hair in the waiting room :) So even though I missed it I was so thankful to see her there...she so great! I was able to give a huge hug and talk with her, she loved being in the temple :) We then went further into the temple close to the font, but we found out that Korrin had already been baptized as well. Which was sad, I so wanted to be there, I know how much this meant to her. She has been literally waiting years for this moment. In order to watch the baptisms they wanted us dressed in white, but I figured that they were done, and so we just went out to the waiting room again and talked with Eliza. It ended up being exactly what needed to happen though, because Korrin forgot something and so her mom ran in to the front desk, so they could give it to her. I grabbed her before she could run back out and had her just stay in the waiting room with me. I know she really wishes she could have been in their with her daughter. I had her sit and we just talked about everything. She told me that her and Korrin used to park out side the gates and just talk and feel peace. So sweet :) This was actually the first time that the gates had been opened when they came, so the first time the gates were opened for them was the same time Korrin was able to go into the temple. I thought that that was pretty dang awesome! I talked a lot about family history with her and temples and how temples are made to fit into the culture of the area. Korrin then came out and we all just talked. Korrin and I explained what happens during baptisms for the dead, cause her mom was curious .  So that was my long but good week.  I hope you all have a great week too.

love,

-Sister Draudt

( This is a little more I added to my email) 

Korrin and I explained what happens during baptisms for the dead, because her mom was curious . It was really amazing to have Korrin and her mom together in the temple. Korrins mom Dana was telling me that she wants to be baptized when she is dead if she is not baptized in this life. But no worries, cause honestly things will work out :) she is awesome! After being in the temple we talked around the outside for a minute and we took pics :) so I will have to send those home :)

      On Saturday Ben and Natasha came to a baptism for this sweet family who was baptized in another ward. Natasha loved it. It was so cute, she and Ben both kneeled down by the little kids to watch. Ben congratulated the little girl in the family after the baptism! That was adorable. Ben asked if we could go to the temple after and so Randy, who is the assistant ward mission leader drove him to the temple and we met them. We had a lesson on Heavenly Fathers love and just all other things also. It was so sweet. I asked to show Ben my favorite part of the grounds, so we went and sat by the beautiful stain glass widow that is in the celestial room. We asked Ben how he felt and he told us he felt calm, and good inside. We explained how that was the holy ghost. We talked about how Heavenly Father is our father. Then the sweetest thing happened. We asked if we could pray with him right there. So he offered the sweet adorable kind of Ben prayer that he does and after he was quite. Then he said "I can really feel more right now that Heavenly Father is my father" and his voice cracked and he almost started to cry. That seriously was the sweetest thing every! I pray that one day Ben will be baptized. He doesn't necessarily need it but he really wants it, but his parents won't let him right now. One day though, one day it can happen. Miracles are always happening and that is something I have really learned this week :)

       Well I love you all so much :) Have a great week :) and I will send pics :)
                            -Love Andrea

July 7, 2014

Dear Family!!!

       1st off...its official..I am an adult..well OK..I just feel like saying I am 21 makes me sound so much older it';s crazy. It is crazy to think that for my whole 20th year I have been on my mission...None of you have seen me...that's weird. I feel like I have changed a lot...but at the same time...I am still me...if that makes sense. Well I will get to my birthday stuff in a minute I first have to tell you all about my week :)

         Ok to start off I will begin with Hong. We taught him Tuesday...well that was a fail completely...luckily we had 2 members there who saved it. We taught the restoration and well he was not feeling it at all. We tried to put him on baptismal date, thinking he was ready..well that was bad...he kinda freaked out a little. He was super nice about it but panicked a little..so no date so far, but the members really saved it for us haha.

      Our 4th of July...to be honest kinda sucked. The beginning was great though. We went to this 4th of July BBQ with the Monad Sisters and we talked to non members that were by us in line. We got to really get to know them and after talking in the line the guy that was there gave us plates..and we realized he has paid for our breakfast! How sweet was that, he was not even a member but is so nice. The pancake breakfast was awesome, then we looked at some booths and talked to some more people. There was this booth with wooden puzzles that this guy made. We got to talking and found out he used to be a member, but no longer is. We had a good chat. I ended up buying two of his puzzles cause I realized I need to start getting some things for home. We watched the parade..that was the most boring parade ever..there was no floats ..it was all politics and advertising...Finally after the parade and talking to some more people it was about 2 pm and so we headed home. Earlier that morning we got a text from the girl who said she would have us over for dinner and fire works, she canceled on us...so we had no idea what to do cause in the YSA ward they all went home to their families or to Hysham for the ward camp out..but we could not go cause it was to far away and we obviously could not stay the night..so we did not know what to do. We ended up going home. The Monad sisters invited us to a bbq but we ended up going to see Don (remember Don?) We thought he could use some visitors. IT was a blast talking to him and hearing about his progress in the gospel. Our visit took a lot longer than we anticipated so by the time we got out the bbq was over. So we went home and I had a frozen burrito for dinner...that was kinda sad haha but oh well. We then went and visited with Chelsea Mason, a less active. She has made made leaps and bounds lately! We had this awesome lesson about prayer and how she needs to be doing it. She mentioned how missionaries always show up and we testified that we know it is because of Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father, he loves her and wants her develop a strong relationship with him! It was such a cool lesson! We were there just chatting till 9pm. We had permission to stay out till 11 though, and we did not want to go home early, but we obviously could not proselyte after 9, so we went back out to laurel and watched fire works on a bus bench for about 10 minutes cause they did not even start to 10:20ish and at 10:30 we had to head home haha...But hey I was able to see some fire works. They were going off everywhere. It was pretty fun, I was ready for bed by the end of it though. That was an interesting 4th of July...that is for sure haha. It is ok though, cause my Birthday totally made up for it! :)

        My Birthday was seriously the best!!!! I loved every second of it! I woke up and the first thing I did was open my Package. The little pillow was super adorable :) Then I loved the purple dress and scarf!!! They were so cute! I loved the jewelry also! Sister De Bry has the dress in pink so we decided to match that day :) I have to say we were super cute haha. I went into the bathroom and on the mirror were sticky notes saying happy birthday and stuff from Sister Debry :) they were adorable. Then finally after getting ready for the day Dallas called and asked if we could meet and read the Book of Mormon cause he is struggling with it! Which I think was a Birthday present from  God cause he knew Dallas was having a hard time but he would not accept help so it was cool that he accepted help. After Dallas we went to get gas and as we are  getting gas Eliza called us....oh my gosh guess what!!!! She is engaged to Eric...I have no idea how much I talk about them..but they are pretty much my favorite and are just awesome!!! I am so happy for them! She had to called after our little office meeting and after President told Sister DeBry and I that we are staying for another transfer (so this will be the longest area I have had so far! Then I got a message from the ZL'S and STL'S singing happy birthday :) haha that was adorable. We went to Hu-Hot for lunch, it is a Mongolian grill, it's pretty decent, I heard they just got one in Salt Lake so that is cool. We then went and visited with Korrin! I just love her it was so nice to see her again! It has been a while. Oh ps I have stuff to talk about with PMG. (Preach My Gospel) ...after talking about my birthday. Anyways we then went back to the office to get some work done cause we found out that an apostle is going to be viewing a report that sister Debry and I put together every week..we have been trying to make it look even better haha. Then we had dinner with Bishop and Sister Williams :) at this Italian place! So good. Then we had an interview with the Sister Training leaders and they gave me a silly gag gift, which was just random stuff. We took lots of pics because it was Sister Barkdulls birthday the day before and we had to take pics together :) haha Then we went to bishops for ice cream cake :) they gave Sister Debry and I each a scarf so that was fun :) We then had to run over to Brandies at like 9 pm because she had a cousin pass away and needed some support..sadly when we got there we realized she just

wanted to talk..she did not really need us...but oh well. We finally went home and went to sleep :)...that was my birthday :) haha IT WAS FABULOUS :) I loved it!

           Ok really quick before I go off on Sunday I have to mention the PMG stuff. They changed some things in PMG. The new member lessons are now to be taught by the missionaries with members. It used to be we would hand them off to the ward and then they would never get it done, so now the missionaries get to head them up and are required to teach the Recent convert for 4 months after baptism, and stay in contact with them for a year! Which is awesome because when we get transferred we usually lose contact because we don't have permission to write them...and it is really hard to get...but now it is required for us to stay in contact with them which means automatic permission. I wish this happened last year.. cause then maybe Amber would still be going to church..I have been trying to contact her..and she won't write me back..that really sucks. I love her so much she is amazing and I just wish I could help her. I am still gonna try...never giving up haha.

          Now to yesterday Sunday :) So we get to church and the West Park elders have an investigator at out meeting! It was not Krista either...it was a different one! I met her after Sacrament and just stayed with her for the rest of church and the munch and mingle. Her name is Natasha, she just graduated High school, and is a sweet heart. She has no religious background, but since the elders found her she has been going to church and she told me that the Book of Mormon makes her so happy. She bore her testimony in Sacrament and was just awesome. She told me she wants to convert to Mormonism! After Sunday school she said "I just am being over whelmed with the Holy Ghost, it feels so good , I just need to pray. " I AM SO SERIOUS! SHE IS THIS GREAT! I showed her a room  she could pray in and let her have a private prayer, she was in there for 10 minutes! then came out and was just glowing :) she said " that was a good place to pray :) hahaha she loved every minute of church and we got an appointment with her and she is coming back next week! How amazing is that! Chelsea Mason came for all of church also and to the munch and mingle! Dallas came to church also. He really did like it, except for in 2 of the testimonies they mentioned Iraq which caused him to have an episode and he just put his head down and was so stiff....then he just got up and walked as fast as he could to get out of the building and then we just let him be...so that he could work through it, but he came back in :) he also came to the bishops dessert night last night. That was really good. All of these YSA activities I thought were not productive, but oh my gosh they are! They help our investigators so much and they are so easy to bring people to and to find people! I love serving in this ward..even though holidays suck in it sometimes hahaha. Yesterday everyone was saying happy birthday also and it just made me so happy. This week has been pretty great all and all :) I love all of you and I hope you have a great week. ps I will send pics :)

  pps, Dallas called and talked to me today and he wants to be baptized.  Isn't that so awesome!  that's another tender mercy from Heavenly Father..  I am so excited

-Sister Draudt ...Andrea....

 

 

July 1, 2014

Family!!!!

     1st off I saw all the emails about Gavin and I have been praying for him! I put his name in the temple here also. I love Gavin so much I am so sad to hear her was so sick! Poor little man, I got him a little surprise today I will send home. I saw the pictures you sent and I have to say he is a trooper, he is smiling in most of them hahaha that says a lot. 

     This week has been really good! We were able to do some service and had some really powerful lessons! On Thursday evening we role played with Randy (our assistant ward mission leader) we role played to prepare for Hong's lesson, he is the Chinese foreign exchange student who did not believe in God at all. So the role play was for the plan of salvation, and it was super simple and just about Jesus Christ. Well at 7 we had institute and an investigator came to it so we had to be there. It was Dallas, who is the homeless guy with PTSD who we are teaching, he is one of the scariest people we teach, but he has gotten so much better and he really loved institute so we could not just leave him there, but we had Hong at 8 so we went on splits. I took Eliza from the ward with me and we went to teach Hong. This was one of the absolute coolest lessons ever! When we first started teaching I was keeping it super simple, like the role play, that was awful, I could just see how it was throwing Hong off more. So I had this thought that just said "just throw it out the window and teach the whole plan of salvation" so that is what I did. Once I did that it went so much better and Hong understood! Even the words that we thought he would not understand he did! He loved it so much and felt the spirit, I pulled out my little diagram and started laying it out. By the end he asked if he could take a picture of it with his phone so he could remember! Oh we asked him if he has prayed yet and he said no, but then took that answer back cause he said that one night he was really homesick and could not sleep, so he prayed to God and he said after that he was able to go to sleep :) oh and he has been reading the Joseph Smith story in the Book of Mormon. At the end of the lesson we asked him to pray and he did! It was such a sincere prayer and so powerful! He asked if the plan of salvation was real and it was so sweet! Oh also Eliza asked him "Hong do you believe in God now?" and his response after pausing for a moment was "yes, something is there" awwwww how awesome is that! That is so huge for someone to go from not believing in God to believing! WOW! So that was my experience with Hong, he even came to church and FHE this week.

      The lesson Sister DeBry had with Dallas was super awesome too! Apparently he opened up so much more and loved meeting people there. That night he called us at later and just chatted for 45 minutes...crazy! We ended up telling him we had to go to bed and eventually hung up, but that was funny.

                 (Now the bouncing around of what happened is going to start haha)

       On Sunday we had Dallas and Krista who is the elders investigators who they are turning over to us come to ward prayer/dessert at bishops. That was neat there were 5 nonmembers there, it was so productive. This week we have met so many potentials, well more than normal and it has been really awesome, the work is really starting to move forward, now I just hope I stay another transfer :) haha

          Oh on Friday night it was the YSA Friday night activity and we normally never go, cause there is no point for us to go, but Krista was going so we went and so did the elders who were teaching her, and well we got roped in to doing a jello eating contest...bad Idea, I will send pics home. I felt like I was eating so much and I would look down and it looked like I did not even make a dent! Then I had a green beard and teeth the rest of of the night.

           So Wednesday we had zone training and it was awesome! The last half at least, we had a really hard morning, so it was hard for us to focus during the first half, but after, it was nice. I have felt like I have needed a blessing for weeks now, and it seems like I just never had time and I really felt the need when I was at zone training, so Elder Thomas gave me a blessing, and Sister Debry had Elder Page give her one. Oh my goodness I can not even explain how much better I felt after. I had so much built up in me and I couldn't let it go, until right then, and because of the blessing I was able to find relief and relax and just literally feel the weight come off of my shoulders. He gave me a wonderful blessing that I know came from Heavenly Father, and I still feel so so much better. I had questions answered during that blessing, that no one knew I had, So I know that it was from Heavenly Father. I am so thankful for this gospel and the peace and joy and pure happiness that comes from it :)

           Well this week is my birthday!!!! wahooooo! I am gonna be 21...how crazy is that. I feel so old haha. I got aunt Debbie and Aunt Diana's cards :) please let them know how thankful I am for the gifts and the cards :) They just made my day, mail is always awesome :)

           I love you all have a wonderful week and I will write you all next week :)

             

-Andrea

June 23, 2014

Dearest Family!
         This last week started off with a grand adventure..and believe me it went in my journal. So at the end of preparation day last Monday, we took a nap, but got up at 5:50 to make it to our appointment that was at 6. Well we wake up and of course are only half awake. We leave the apartment and go to get in the car when I realize we locked the keys in the apartment, then Sister DeBry realizes the phone was  left in the apartment also. Well we had no idea what to do and were in a panic, because we had an appointment that we would miss or be really late to and we could not even let the people know. Since we serve in a YSA ward, our ward members live all over, and no one was close to us. The closest and best option was to talk to the mission home about a mile and a half away. We start walking thinking it will take 15 minutes..it took half an hour! We knock on President and Sister Mechams door and President answers in his pajamas haha. That was pretty funny already cause well...President is just always dressed up..like it kinda surprised me to learn he did not sleep in a suit haha. Just kidding, it was just different seeing him in pajamas. Well we explained the whole situation to him and he chuckled a little, and then opened the office and started to help us out. He asked "Do you have an appointment?" We explain how we did, but we are half an hour late now and next thing I know is he is saying" Well you can take my car and come back right after and we will figure everything out after" I seriously was freaking out in my head thinking that he was going to let me drive his car! He took us to the garage and has me pull it out and Sister Debry is backing me out. I could not have been more nervous having president watch me back his car out of the garage, because well this garage is so tiny and this SUV/jeep thing is HUGE!  Literally I had maybe 4 inches on each side between the garage door and the jeep thing! Luckily I did a pretty smooth job haha. He went inside and we were on our way to the appointment! We felt pretty legit driving president's car...just saying haha. 

          The appointment was not nearly as cool as the story...because well it was suppose to be a first lesson and they ended up deciding to bash with us on homosexuality, and we really just listened and tried to be nice, but we did defend our beliefs. Then they told us they heard we got paid for every baptism we had, we corrected that lie immediately, and it ended with them trying to convince us to read the satanic bible...ummm heck no! We talked about that for a little bit and at the end when we were walking away from the apartment they kinda were really trying to push it, and how after our missions we have to read. Ummm no never. Anyways the appointment was awful! So we went back to the mission home and were a little down, but president opened the door with a smile on his face and the spare keys to our apartment in his hand! He made some calls and tracked down the spare keys. That just made me so happy :) He then drove us back to our apartment in his pajamas. It was pretty great hahahahaha.

         Ready for story number 2. So this guy in the ward signed up to feed us dinner, which is totally fine, cause we were going to be in town..well when we got to dinner there was another guy from the ward....the one who took us is a little awkward ..and doesn't think sometimes...so we had dinner at red lobster and it looked like we were on a date....awful! The waitresses thought it was funny, until we pulled out scriptures and started teaching a lesson to the members and then they did not think it was funny anymore. Hahaha..So we won that battle.

          Oh my  goodness....honestly that is what my week has consisted of...just funny stuff...Oh but one really fun thing is we got to volunteer for this "run for the cure" for cancer event and it was fun! We were crossing guards and stopped traffic for  the runners to cross. That was really fun! The very last person who needed us as the crossing guard was a mother and her 4 year old daughter. The 4 year old was not happy at all.. but it was so cute because we walked back with her and her mom and we talked about her favorite movies and princesses and cheered her on and  loved it. We found out that 2 years ago they used to take discussions from Elders which was cool, it did not go anywhere, but the mom said she loved it and we asked if she would want to meet with them again and she said yes. Sadly with all the people after the race we lost track of her, but I know that God has a plan for everyone and so he will get missionaries over there, after all there are a good 15+ sets of missionaries in Billings. That was a fun and cool experience.

           We went on exchanges this week? That was fun. Oh a couple days ago we went to the West Park elder's ward bbq because they have a YSA age investigator in this family they are teaching. They wanted us to meet her.  Her name is Krista and super nice. But very shy and she did not really want to talk to us cause she is super shy, and already comfortable with the elders, so last night we had her and the elders come to Bishops for ward prayer/dessert night. In the beginning she was super shy, and then warmed up a little, and by the end she was pretty open and comfortable! So that was cool. We invited her to FHE in the beginning and she said no..then at the end we invited her again and she said Yes! So that is awesome!

     Oh yesterday Hong came to church! We didn't get to teach him this last week so we were bummed out, but he came to church! and he has started reading the book of Mormon in Chinese and he was telling us about the Joseph smith story in the beginning haha! So that is cool and half way through sacrament meeting he asked his friend Nate if he could see the baptismal font! So we did, show him the font! That was cool. It is so cool how his interest is growing. On my mission I have had so many missionaries say "If they just read the Book of Mormon they will progress and make it to baptism." And I thought that was cool, but It really hit me this last week as I was looking back on past experiences and I realized it is so true! Every single person I have taught, this applied to and was true of. If they read the book of Mormon, than they continued to grow and learn in the gospel, if they did not, then their desire left, or remained stag-net. This applies to any commitment we leave with people, whether it is praying, or reading the book or Mormon, or coming to church, if they keep the commitment they grow closer to Heavenly Father and Christ and their desire grows. This applies to me also, and to all of us. I notice if I don't pray with as much purpose, I don't grow, If i don't listen to talks in sacrament and try to get something out of them, then I just find it boring. We have to actively be doing everything we can to grow closer to our Savior, or we just won't and it is as simple as that. Commitment to our Heavenly Father, to Christ, to our families is everything! If we want to have eternal life with Heavenly Father and our Savior we better do something about it or it won't happen.  Making out covenants is not enough, we have to keep them . Same with our families, if we want to have an eternal family, well we better keep the commitments we make in the temple. Commitment is everything :)

        Ok I have another little tangent but it ties into commitments also. What we put into things is what we get out. Like with Sacrament, if we listen and try to get something out of the talks, we can, but if we don't try it is boring, therefor we get out of it what we put in. This is something I have really had to think about on my mission with partaking the sacrament. The sacrament really helps me get through the week and brings so much light to my week if I really ponder and take it seriously, how ever if there is a time where I don't really pay attention and my mind wanders, then I really don't' notice a difference, or if just me....The sacrament is so sacred and it breaks my heart when I see people playing games on their phone during it. So I just really want to invite anyone who is reading this email to keep commitments and to really take the sacrament seriously.  Ok to end this I have to end with one of my favorite scriptures. So this is Jacob quoting Zenos, cause he just went off and teaching his people all of this stuff and at the very end he just says "O be wise, what can I say more" and I love that, cause that is really what it is..just be smart haha. I love it

        I know I just went off on a rant, but that is what has hit me this week and what I have learned.  Anyways...really not too much happened this week, but hopefully I will have more to write next week haha. I love you all so much!

                    -Andrea