Baptism, Blessings, and Scriptures

Hey, everyone! 

This week was a great week!

All week, the missionaries had been helping Emma (age 9) prepare for her baptism on Saturday, June 21. What a joy it was to be there! her parents couldn't have been more proud for her decision to be baptized. 

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We played Tennis again, this week, and it was very fun. My right arm is too strong - many times I kept hitting the ball out of the court. The more I hit the ball, though, the more I realize how much strength is needed for it to stay in the boundaries and so that I could give a chance for one of the two team mates to hit the ball.. :P Ha. It was a good game, though.  

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We had another lesson with Roy this week, and it was about the law of tithing. It went pretty well, I believe! He said he did not want to pay the full 10%, but to contribute what he felt he should give. Hopefully he will understand the importance of giving 10%!

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This week was exchanges, and I got to be with Sister Hurley! She is this wonderful, bubbly person who is very good at talking with everyone. She brings a wonderful, warm spirit about her that can carry into the whole room. She helped me teach a lesson to Joe and Sally, who live close by (part-member family) and it was such a great experience. I truly do believe she was meant to be apart of that lesson for this family - she shared some great insights that only she could share in the way she shared them. I want to be more like her!

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Car inspection on Friday. We found the time to clean out the car, even though it was not much of a joyous moment, but it was when the car passed the inspection. The elders from our Ward won the first prize out of all the districts; they told us the day before, "you're gonna lose." Yep. We did. They won a bag of chips in Salsa. XD 

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This week, all the missionaries had to go to a conference which lasted from 9 am - 3:00 pm, and lasted about 30 minutes more with some extra instruction. A lot of note taking, and some practice teaching the gospel principles. The President over the mission told us that he was going to call one of us to show how to teach the Gospel in under 7 minutes. That added a great amount of stress throughout the week, for sure. But... when the time came to it, he didn't call on any of us, and he chose himself and his wife to be the example and to choose a pair of missionaries to act as investigators. My companion was relieved! 

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On Sunday, none of our 14 investigators came to church! We even received a text during the sacrament meeting that one of them dropped us and did not want us to teach the lessons for some reason (and she was a member referral, too!). But, right after the meeting, one of the members brought a lady who is 17 who is very interested in the church. She carried a bag full of all of her Ensigns and church books which was a struggle for her to carry. She is definitely ready to be taught, and we are excited for her. 

It is interesting how we lost an investigator, and then we gained an investigator. We are excited all the same! 

After church, 

We visited Rachel, who is in the nursing home; she had been going through some hard times for about 2 weeks, and she wanted a Priesthood blessing. The Elders came sometime after 2:30 pm and they gave her a blessing of healing. She was so thankful for that blessing, and I was so glad she was able to receive it. Elder Bluemel exclaimed after the blessing, ["Wouldn't you like the sisters to sing you a song?"] And Rachel mentioned how she had a hymn book in her drawer, by explaining mostly in gestures and not so much voice (because of her stroke). Sister Bowen found it and it was a hymn book from the 1940s (this hymnal had a brown cover and was indeed made from a printing press) and Rachel wanted us to sing her Favorite hymn, which had the lyrics , "Love at home". We got the elders to join in with the singing; Rachel was singing too. I am glad the elders came and were able to take some time out of their day to see this wonderful woman and to give her a blessing. This was truly a memorable experience.  :) 

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I have greatly improved in my lesson teaching, especially when it comes to the Gospel of Christ. 

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Well, that is all I can say for this week, but it was a good one. 

I miss you all still, and feel free to send me more messages/emails/voice recordings/etc.

-Sister Marshall