Hello hello hello.

Some things from this week:

Tuesday night we had an appointment with a family that lives near the church but.... they weren't home. So instead we walked about 1 mile back down to the church and had planned to do some online work. As we were walking down this busy road that feeds onto the highway, a lady across the street caught my eye. We waved at her and she waved back and when the traffic died down we ran across the street to speak with her. This woman named Joann was standing on the corner because her brother who lives out of town was coming to visit and she wanted to ensure that he found her home. Joann watches BYUTV every other day and is well acquainted with the Joseph Smith Papers, documenting the life and work of the Prophet. She had fair knoweldge about the Church but has never attended or been visited by missionaries! I know we were supposed to meet her. So many things happened just the right way.

Wednesday I went on exchanges with Sister S. She has been in the Georgia Macon Mission for 3 weeks so I was her first exchange! I love new missionaries- so full of passion and enthusiasm and eager to learn. We found two new investigators on Wednesday! 

Thursday was interesting. Sister J was having a reaction to something so we spent a chunk of the day in urgent care. And then it rained ridiculously hard and people in South don't like to leave their homes or let anyone come to their homes in a storm. So all our evening plans were cancelled. It's honestly kind of funny. Our investigators think they're doing us a favor by not allowing us to drive to their house in the rain but in reality that leaves us on the street to find! Haha but it all worked out. We met some really amazing and sincere people on Thursday evening and the rain died down. 

Saturday it was so stinking humid. I left my house with a dry dress and came home with a damp dress. We spent all day looking for people to teach. No one was outside. No one answered their door. Nothing happened. For hours. But I knew we had prayed about our plans and felt good about them and I also remembered Alma's promise - "ye shall reap the rewards of your faith, and your diligence, and your patience". So we were diligent and patient and tried to be faithful. Eventually we went in for dinner and then went back out at 6pm - more finding - until 9pm. In our very last 30 minutes of finding, and of proselyting time that day as a whole, we knocked on a door. K come outside. And then T came outside. They had previously investigated the church but we had no record of them ever learning from missionaries. They recognized the Book of Mormon and told us about themselves and their faith. Then they invited us back. Miracle. God knows where His children are. He knows what they need. He knows that we spent all day finding and had nothing to show for it at 8:30. And he knew where we needed to be to find them. Good things.

Church was so wonderful on Sunday - Happy father's day! In the afternoon we went to a really nice assisted living center. Residents + families gathered in the main living area and Sister Jensen played the piano and Elder Holzer played the guitar and we all sang and it was so fun. Outside of my comfort zone? Yes. Well worth it? Yes. No one in the center that came that day was LDS. But we sang about how we are children of God, how our families can be together forever, and of the love of Jesus Christ. The Spirit was sweet. 

Monday we had a video lesson. We read from The Book of Mormon. We only read maybe 15 verses from a chapter in 1 Nephi. T's comprehension is growing. She no longer asks questions about what is happening but wants to know WHY things are happening. She is so intrigued by Laman and Lemuel and their.... un-steadfastness (Is there a good word for that?). As we read with her yesterday we learned about a huge hole in T's understanding about Jesus Christ and the plan of salvation. Did it have anything to do with what we were reading in The Book of Mormon? Definitely not. But there is power in that holy volume of scripture that helped us to discover this concern and now we can teach to Terricka's needs. 

I've officially been on my mission for 15 months. Crazy. So grateful for the people here. Grateful for President Grayson and the careful way in which he makes decisions and leads this mission. Grateful for my amazing companions. Grateful for repentance. Grateful for the opportunity to be better each day and to be forgiven and to be clean before the Lord as I am sincere in my efforts to come unto Christ.

I hope this finds you well. 

I think you're awesome.

You are a child of God. Don't forget it.

Love,
Emma