Dear Friends and Family,
This week has gone by so fast and was so crazy!
It all started Sunday when we got a text from a former investigator. He said he was in town and wanted to meet with us. ( the background on this investigator: The sisters in Slidell have been teaching him for about 8 or 9 months. he was staying with his dad who lives in slidell but he actually lives in laurel. not in our boundaries. David is about 38 years old) So we called David and he said he wanted to meet with us. Everything was cleared up and he wanted to talk to us about "getting him baptized". So we went over on Monday afternoon and talked with him. He was still smoking and drinking tea..but once we told him that if he wanted to get baptized he would have to stop today right now he said .."well sisters i've just smoked my last cigarette" and that he did.
President Tucker came down to interview him on Wednesday. And the baptismal service was on Saturday. In between that time we had the opportunity to visit with him everyday. He loves all the scriptures especially the book of Mormon.( He called the pearl of great price 'the great pearl.') he keeps trying to slip his dad and step mom a copy of the book of Mormon. They used to think we were a cult. David was able to get both of them to attend his baptism and they were very impressed. At Davids baptismal service sister Hills and I had to sing a musical number ( I am a child of God) David didn't know any of the hymns, when we were helping him pick out which songs he wanted sung at his baptism. ( He wanted everyone to sing "this little light of mine" and "amazing grace"..but we said no. He also wanted to sing " the four walls of raffer" but that was a joke.) So we sang some hymns for him. He thought we sounded so beautiful that he wanted us to sing at his baptism. We told him we would..I told him he better keep praying so we sound better. Only for him would we ever sing at a baptism.
On Sunday at church David really wanted to pay his tithing. He was so excited. (I have never seen anyone so excited about the gospel or paying tithing in my life!) We showed him where to get the tithing slips, how to pay and who to give it to. He felt so bad that he could not pay more and said he was so embarrassed. "If all (Investigators/members) ever were and would be like unto (David)" This church would grow like never before. It was sad to see him have to go back home to Laurel. He will be a great addition to their branch.
This coming week we have two investigators scheduled for baptism. One was interviewed by President Tucker when he came down and the other is being interviewed on Friday.
It has been raining so much here! It is crazy. Everyone here thought they were in a drought because apparently it normally rains every afternoon. well it's back! Thank goodness for umbrellas!
The work is going great here in Slidell, LA. We just keep praying that we will find a family to teach.
The one less active family we have started working with did not come to church this Sunday. The girl that came last week was out of town. We stopped by to visit with the dad and he was in New Orleans with his wife. We were able to visit with the older daughter and invite her to church. They are pretty interested in our message..they are just unsure. We just keep praying. Hopefully this week they'll come to church. we are hopefully meeting with the younger sister for a lesson this week. She really enjoyed church last week.
We were about to go back out to work after dinner Thursday evening when we saw a family a few doors down from us playing out side. So we turned around and parked by our house ( Saving miles! ) and walked over to them. The little boys were fishing out craw fish and baby frogs with nets from the canals in front of the house. We talked with the mom and 11 year old girl. She was very interested in our message and wanted to learn more. The mom was very hesitant at first and used the excuse of.."we just have so many little ones..we don't have time I'm sorry." To which i replied " Oh that's no problem.. could we set up a time and have a family night with you?" She loved it! We are going back this week to teach her and her family. She just has two girls( age 11 and 2) the two boys were her nephews.
so funny story.. I went to answer the phone the other day.. ( well this actually happened twice) and I said " Hi! This is Sister Hills with the missionaries." Sister Hills looks at me and says." You're sister Urie" and ... oh it was so funny. She must be doing a really great job training me. I answer the phone the way she does. our Investigator that is getting baptized on Saturday called and I did that same thing.. I said " Hi! This is sister Hills with the missionaries..oh no I lied sorry I'm sister Urie." He didn't notice though. It was pretty funny.
oh ..so one of the ladies in our ward works at chick-fil-a..Sister Hills and I have eaten there at least 4 or 5 times in the past week. She gave us free sandwich coupons. I never liked chick-fil-a before..but we love it now!
I am going to be going to picayune this evening for exchanges and one of the sisters from picayune will be coming to slidell. I will be there from Monday night until Wednesday afternoon and we will switch back after District meeting. I am very excited to see how the work is going down in picayune. This will be my first exchange! They wanted us to ride bikes during the exchange..but it has been raining a lot so i do not think that will happen. We are supposed to sacrifice a 10th of our miles and ride bikes. It has either been too hot or rainy to ride bikes lately.
This week...
Tracting tips: $1.23
Southernism: 'set'... People say sit..but it sounds like set.
Scripture: Alma 36 ( Alma's "conversion" story being told to his son Helaman. I love this because it shows that there is hope for all of God's children if we desire to repent and turn there lives around.)
I love you family and friends, hope all is going well! I am excited to be able to tell you all about this upcoming week and the adventures I will have. Thank you for all your prayers!
Love, Sister Urie
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