Week 53: "Let's hear it for..."‏

..."NEW YORK!!"..(Just wanted to see who would catch on..ha)

 Dear Family!

This was another great week to be alive and serving in the Flowood area. So many great things are happening here and I have been so excited all week to share them with you. We have been finding new investigators left and right..Also can you believe that I have been out a year? It seems like just yesterday that I arrived in Slidell. Every minute of this journey has been so enjoyable and I am sad to see it on the down hill.

First off you are probably wondering why I started off my email with that lovely song.. well I'll tell ya! We have a great new investigator who's nick-name is 'New York' ( we will call him that) and his girlfriend who lives with him. They both have so many questions and love it when we come over. New York was a referral given to us at the beginning of this transfer from the Elders. We went to see them and they right away set up a time for us to come back. We have been by quite a few times and the first lesson we were prompted to share with them was 'The plan of salvation." Surprisingly enough, as I said they have so many questions, the first question they asked us when we got there is if they needed to be baptized. Well we know the answer to that..yes you do! by the proper authority.
One great story that happened from when we were teaching them last week was when we were talking about Adam and eve. Lets go back though.. We have been inviting them to read the Plan of Salvation pamphlet for several visits, so finally when we went over this last time we told them we were just going to read it together. Sister Platt and I just knew that he was either going to love our view of Adam and eve, or hate it and have a lot of questions. So we strategically read through the whole section so he would get the "full effect" I guess you could say. After ward, you could tell something about it wasn't sitting right with him. He looks at us and says " He set them up! God set them up!" It was pretty funny. I love the verse in second Nephi and also in the Plan of Salvation pamphlet, that talks about how everything that happened was part of God's plan. None of it was a mistake. ( Just thought yall would enjoy that little experience..:) )

Unfortunately New York and his girl Friend were unable to come to church on Sunday because something came up and they were so sad they missed it. We are working on getting them fellowship. They are not married and are living together. So we might could possibly just make it a wedding and baptism like on the district! one thing at a time.. but Teaching them is going great. They are both seeking for the truth and it is great to see them both learn and progress in the gospel. True blessings from heaven.

So..yesterday was p-day..and you would not believe all the stores that they have here in Flowood. The lady at the visitors center said that Flowood is one of the fastest growing areas. The policeman at the police station ( don't worry we weren't in trouble, we went to find out which areas we should be avoiding.) said that there are no scary parts of Flowood either, all very very safe. To be honest, This area feels so much like home. You will be happy to know though that through all of our shopping adventures yesterday, p-day, we got two new investigators and loaned out a copy of the book of Mormon. Yes I would say that that was a very successful p-day..I will also say that those were the most expensive investigators of my whole mission. ( don't worry we do not use shopping as a finding activity.. all the time..) I once heard it said by a wise missionary " Preach the gospel..Shop if necessary!" Don't worry I'm being smart though. It is just nice to have so much at our fingertips. We are working on finding a park to do another chalk talk at..as school is out. It is just a little to hot though.. I can only imagine how it feels for yall down at home.

Another recent convert we are working with was baptized over a year ago. She is so sweet and really loves the church and the gospel. It is so hard to see recent converts who do not have the adequate fellowship that they need. ( in preach my gospel) President Gordon B Hinkley said that every convert needs three things.. a Friend, a calling, and to be nourished by the good word of God. She has one friend in the church ( not enough) she has a calling ( that she does not like) and she is not really being nourished by the good word of God ( Her calling takes her way from interacting with adults, but she is also preparing to go to the temple and taking temple prep class.) Another thing is that she told us that she needs other people to help motivate her.. Do you have any ideas as to how we could help her without her getting converted to another set of missionaries. She is extremely shy..but we might could bring over members with us when we visit her..  new converts are so fragile and we really love her and want her to progress well in the gospel.

Get a load of this! There is a lady, sister, in the ward that arranges music and is letting me borrow her violin and play the music that she is arranging. It is amazing and I feel so blessed to be able to play the violin. We are playing a musical number at zone conference tomorrow so I will let you know how it goes.

So you want to know how things really are going here in Flowood..? Things are so great. I love this area and I love working with Sister Platt. We work really well together and I have been learning so much from her. One thing I love about this area is there is so much potential here. We are working hard to rebuild and repair relationships between the missionaries and the members. I love love being a missionary and I love being able to serve the people here in Flowood.

One thing that was really cool is we went to the ward counsel on Sunday.. Previous to this we had met with the primary president and she told us that there was much debate amongst the ward counsel regarding the number of baptisms goal they were going to set for the year. Some felt it should be fairly low, while others had promptings that it should be much much higher. Then we showed up, The primary president told us that she knows great things are going to happen in this ward and We (sister Platt and I ) cannot help but feeling that it is because of how many missionaries are in this ward. The work is about to progress and explode in this area! How great is my calling. :)

Well Things are going great and I appreciate the letters and prayers that you send. I am working on writing everyone back. Opening a  new area has helped in me falling behind on letter writing. It doesn't help that my companion and I get along really well. ha. No excuse for not writing y'all.

I love yall and hope you have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Urie

Scripture: Mosiah 5:15

Southernism: There is a lovely picture among the pictures that i have attached to this email of our house guest that we promptly through out the window. :) Great fun times in Flowood..haha
Tracting Tips: Found a few cents..nothing worth mentioning. lots of tracting though! Tearin it up Here in FloWood!