"Getting Real... With Zeal!"

 July 23rd, 2012

Monday night we did a family night with a family who has a few less actives. It was amazing. The spirit was so strong and I truly learned the importance of "Teaching People, not lessons." Before sister withers and I left, Dylan (the 18 year old boy who has been inactive since age 15) told us that this was the first missionary lesson that actually meant something to him. He said that we were "Real" and listened to what he had to say. From that day on, sister withers and I decided to never go back! To always make sure that we are "Getting Real... With Zeal!" That is the motto for our day to day work here! What a valuable lesson for me to learn so early in my service as a missionary.

Wednesday we did the "Search and Rescue" for our ward... that is going pretty well... but I am working on getting creative as I think of ideas on how we can "Re-Vamp" and "Build"  this great program!

We have a Potential Investigator who is BIG on family history work. It is amazing how some people come to find interest in the gospel. For steph... she had a great experience in the Family History Library in SLC and is now getting interested in the church. The Lord works in mysterious ways ;)

On Wednesday we ran into Mark Williams (our former Inv. who moved into the Sutter Buttes area) - What a miracle that was. Sister Withers and I were trying to follow the spirit on how to best use our time and decided to say a prayer that we might be guided to know what street to tract. Well, once again... sometimes the Lord works in mysterious ways... because we both had specific names come to our mind on who we should visit instead. We decided to turn around and go visit Rick.... And there ended up running into Mark. We talked to him about quitting smoking, and he gave us half of the cigarettes he had in his pack. We wrote all over the pack of Cigarettes (Scriptures, words of wisdom, notes of encouragement, etc.) And he committed to us to never smoke again after he finished that "Last Pack," as we called it. Mark was at church again yesterday and only has 1 cigarettes left. That man is incredible he is accomplishing AMAZING things in his life as he follows the gospel. First he quit drinking and now he has quit smoking. Miracles can happen, Sister W and I are seeing that every day here! God is great and his work will ALWAYS keep moving forward.