We found three new investigators and a less active family that is interested in progressing and returning to church! It is exciting to have people (and families) that are excited to learn and change their lives for the better.
One of our new investigators is a member of a part-member family. The wife and kids are members, but the husband is not. His name is JT and he has taken the lessons for a long time in the past. He has trouble with faith. Like the rest of us, he would prefer to SEE clear evidence of the Gospel. Facts to prove that it is true. It may take a while for him to desire to be baptized, but I am hopeful from his comments that he is willing to listen and do his best to figure it out.
Another investigator came to the bishop last week wanting to be baptized. Unfortunately, I believe that he is a professional investigator. He has taken the lessons with many sets of missionaries in the past. He was going to the singles' ward for a little while, but didn't really enjoy it. I guess he has a record of falling off track, but he seemed determined this time. He does not have a phone, so that makes it hard to stay in contact with him. And sadly, he did not come to church yesterday. We have a lesson with him tonight so we can encourage him to do more and help him progress towards his baptism date.
We have an investigator named Janet, who is from Congo/Uganda. She is leaning more and more towards getting baptized, but it has been a long time coming with her and many other missionaries. We ask her about baptism often and this last time she said that it was becoming more of a reality for her. She speaks Swahili originally. As we were thinking about what we could do to help her feel the Spirit, we had the idea that we would write our testimonies and have her help us translate them into Swahili. We feel that helping her have a Spiritual experience in her native language may help her own testimony to grow. English is hard for her and a lot of the time she is concentrating more on communicating than on answers that she is receiving. Maybe I will bear my testimony in Swahili during my non-homecoming talk...
We have been riding up and down the hills of Everett all week. Sister Cunningham is crazy good at riding bikes. She says that the wind is her kryptonite, because it is the only thing that keeps her from being faster than her companions. Thank goodness the wind blows every time the tide changes. We had a good Forth of July. The fireworks were crazy! They started right at 10:30 pm when we were supposed to be going to bed and it was a constant rumble. I can understand now that people in war would get PTSD. It was wild. There were a billion shows all at once. We contacted most of the day at a park which was interesting how we were received. There were some really mad people and then some really kind people. This morning for district P-day we played blacklight/glow-in-the-dark volleyball. Our bishop allowed us to use some of his blacklights that he uses when he is DJ-ing.
I had somewhat of an epiphany when I was reading in Mosiah chapter 2 the other day. It reads: "I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants." I felt like I understood more the nature of our Father in Heaven. In the verse, it says that he is "preserving" us every day. By our Father's power alone, we are alive and we continue to live. What a giant blessing and favor! He even gives us life every minute! And then on top of that, he allows us to do whatever we want. Favor on top of huge favor, on top of huger favor. And he doesn't have to do any of it! Our Father truly loves us!
Love you lots!
Sister Turley
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