January 31, 2011

Well well well. this week has been super busy. I don't think we ever
stopped. It was pretty crazy. I will tell you about it I think. :) The
first thing I will tell you is...I went to jail....Scary huh? Don't
worry though. I didn't get arrested or anything. I went because we
felt like it. haha. We got a referal from Church Headquarters and it
was the craziest feeling ever. Remind me that I never want to go to
jail. WE went to the entrance where it said visitor only it was still
outside. So you call in and say who you want to visit and then they
unlock the first door and you go into this cage with another door.
Once the first door closed and locked, the second door unlocked. we
went through the second door and waited for that to lock to unlock the
third door. Then we went through the third door and showed our i.d.
and then we finally went through the fourth and final door. We get
through only to find out that it was not visitation hours and that in
order to visit the person we needed to call the champlain. So it is a
huge ordeal but president addison was there and he said that if there
was a minister from a church that they HAD to let us in to talk to
them. There should not be any waiting. So, it is just a long process.
Today, this morning, we got another referal at the jail. I guess all
these jail people really want to talk to us. Don't worry though.
President addison will always be at our sides. We actually told Steve
Gaye that we were going to the jail to talk to some people and he got
so worried. He thought we would be proselyting going cell to cell. I
could understand why he thought that. But we are only going to visit
these people in the visitor center with guards all around us.

on tuesday we had a whole bunch of surprising lessons. All the lessons
we had planned stayed but the outcome of the lessons were
unpredictable. Lola Mayabb, the crazy false doctrine lady, had a real
good lesson. We were able to keep on tract with the lesson we wanted
to do. WE read moroni 7 with her and toward the end of the lesson, she
was asking us a whole bunch of different questions. It got her
thinking. We see her tomorrow and we shall see what happens. Doug,
went well. The moment we got there he put tobacco in his mouth. Gross.
but toward the end of the lesson we were able to extend a soft baptism
date with him. The perry family, was great. We just had a great
awkward at the beginning and not awkward toward the end lesson. They
are getting more used to us. It is good. The jess and steve. Steve is
paralyzed from the chest down. He said the best prayer there ever was.
I just wish that he would come back to church and fulfill his
potnential. One day he will.

One day, we went back to visit with Allan hogan. We found out that his
father did pass away. We asked if there was anything we could do. He
said no. THen we decided to go down his street and contact people. All
of a sudden we started running into his whole family. The funeral
visitation was that night and they were all just real sad.
Donny(allans brother) is who we got to talk most to. I pray that we
will be able to convert all of Allan's family. That would just be so
cool.

Guess what? I get to start a new journal! I have gone through my past
journal real fast and now I need a new one. I am excited to start a
new one. It is great.

Steve Gaye is just the best. He is just a missionary at heart already.
He was at work and a minister from another church came in and asked,
"when are you coming to church again son?"
Steve: well, I already found a church sir
Minister: what church is that?
Steve: the church of jesus christ of latter day saints
Minister: well son, the light of jesus christ is the only way you can be saved.
Steve: um, sir, that is what they believe
Minister: (the minister looks at him unbelieving) light of jesus
christ is the only way
Steve: And actually sir, it is more that the light of jesus christ
that saves you

GO STEVE! sharing his testimony already. I would have loved to see
that conversation take place.

My talk went well on sunday. I did the talk I did for my farewell but
with a couple different scriptures and stories. Overall, it was the
same.

Cool experience yesterday. All the plans that we had planned changed
because god wanted it to. We went to alot of members houses to almost
rebuke them for not coming to church. It was kind of crazy because it
was a beautiful day and tons of people should have been to church. So
we went to go investigate. The johnson family had a good excuse. Steve
was sick and the previous weeks they just could not get out because of
the silly snow. Then we went to valerie burnett. We didn't even have
to say anything about not coming to church. She made herself feel
guily that she did not even come. We got this cool idea though after
valerie. Because alot of people know what to do but there needs to be
action. So we are going to try to put together a lesson or activity
that says, "You can talk the talk but can you walk the walk?" It is an
idea in process. On the way to valerie's I had this distinct
impression that we should go to betty johnson's soon. I was debating
on doing tonight but then I got the impression that we had to do it
that night. So, we did. We had a busy crazy schedule but we did. And I
am glad that we did. Betty has not been feeling all that great lately.
She has had to go the hospital for quite some time. Most of january
actually. SO we go over and she needed the comfort. She was in her
favorite place...the kitchen...(she is a baker) and she started to
talk about how she needed to go to the doctor tomorrow and how much
she does not want to go back to the hospital. Then she started to cry.
WE asked if she wanted a blessing. THen she said, Yes yes I do. I am
grateful for willing priesthood holders who come right away when
people are in need. I love it. Betty got a blessing and she felt tons
better after ward. Betty is not an investigator and not a member. She
is just a friend we keep up on because one day she will be a memeber.
I love her to death. She ended up giving us 5 jars of jam that night.
Haha. it was great. I love her food. :)

that is it in a nutshell. We have another busy week ahead. Zone
conference and a special Mission conference where an apostle and three
members of the seventy are coming. So I am pretty excited. :) It will
be fun. :)
I love you all very much. Have a safe week. :) Amanda