April 29, 2013

Hi my family,

Attached are a couple of pictures:

307- Our Scottish pride coming out a couple of Pdays ago :)

313- Some examples of what Scottish homes look like (these ones are really nice-Probably the nicest in Irvine)

This week has been kind of bi-polar. It had its highs and lows. Friday is a perfect example. Friday morning, Eric, had a meltdown and let us know that he won't be continuing with the church anymore unless he can be guaranteed peace and quiet during Sacrament meeting. He said the noise level of the children is too much for him to handle and that it's been making him very angry. (He has a high anxiety/stress mental illness of some sort). So he has refused to come back to church unless we could guarantee him total peace and quiet in sacrament meeting and get it resolved with the bishop. We told him we wouldn't be able to guarantee that since it's a family church and there will always be little children in attendance. So he kind of blew up and asked us not to teach him anymore then. Ugh. It's so tough because when opposition comes, these people's faith are really tested. We were so disappointed and just felt yuck on Friday morning. It's the saddest thing when someone doesn't recognize the truth and accept the gospel.

But then, a few hours later we met with our new district leader and Jon for Jon's baptismal interview. When they came out, they were both beaming and Elder Smithers said that Jon is worthy and prepared to be baptized!!! Ah! Jon is so excited and seriously just glowing! He said his few doubts were wiped away because he had been praying about his little doubts every night leading up to his interview and he told us his prayers were answered and he received the conviction he was looking for! So he's really excited and confident for his baptism this Sunday! So we went from being totally disheartened on Friday morning to being totally overjoyed!!!! We are so happy for Jon! In our last lesson, he prayed and thanked Heavenly Father in front of us for sending him the conviction he was looking for. I could listen to that all day long. This is the best feeling in the world!! I am just incredibly grateful that Heavenly Father answered my prayers as well that we would be able to get in contact with him again! Jon is so prepared. We are keeping busy with preparing for his baptism now. It can be pretty stressful figuring everything out for it- water heater being broken, trying to find baptismal suits that fit Jon and Tommy, (the guy from our ward who's baptising him) because they are both big and tall guys... and then also figuring out the baptismal program. It's kind of stressful figuring it all out, but, it's my favorite kind of stress on the mission - preparing for someone's baptism. :) I am so excited for Jon. He is so great. This is the best.

There's a lot of different emotions on a mission. There's a lot of ups and downs and the 'ups' override the downs and makes it all worth it- seeing people accept the gospel and find out its truthfulness for themselves. I love it.

Have a good week! I'll let you know skype times next week. My skype name is tiffany.knab (creative, I know) so try and find me/add me so we can avoid complications. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone on the 12! Yay!

Love ya,

Sister Knab