July 22, 2013

Hey my family,

It has been such a great week here in Terenure. The sun is still shining- we have beatuiful weather here right now. We're teaching some pretty amazing people too.

We met with one of our investigators, Osa, from Nigeria and he really opened up with us on Saturday. He told us how normally he wouldn't give the time of day to 'people like us' but since the last couple of visits that we have had with him, he said he's been making a lot of changes to his life and he has started to pray to be able to find another job so he can come to church on Sundays. Amazing! In the mean time, he wants to come to as many church functions throughout the week as he can. He's so good. He carries the Book of Mormon with him in his bag too. I love that. He has such a strong faith in the Lord and trusting Him.

We're also teaching John, who is from Nigeria as well. He's not quite as open to the Book of Mormon but in our last visit with him, we focused on teaching him the importance of it and he committed himself to start reading from it. He's really intelligent and has so many factual/historical questions about the Book of Mormon. The questions he asks really shows how much he comprehends what we are teaching him. It blows my mind. He's planning on coming to church this upcoming Sunday.

We're continuing to teach Lindy and her children- the ones from South Africa. Yolanda, one of the girls, LOVED girl's camp. It was so much fun talking to her about her experiences there. She bore her first testimony at their campfire testimony meeting! And she keeps telling us how excited she is to be a Laurel. She's progressing so much. Her mom, Lindy, is doing pretty well too. She's regularly reading the Book of Mormon but hasn't been able to make it to church yet. Yolanda has though and loves it. She is setting such a great example to her mom and other sibilings. We're working towards Yolanada's baptism right now :) She's so great!! The young women are really taking her under their wings too. We hope we can have their whole family baptised on the same day though. We'll say how it all pans out. But they're such a great family. I love them so much.

We had some pretty neat less active experiences this week too. We got in contact with a less active member, Iwona, from Poland. When we first got in, she told us right off that she lost all desire to come back to church and to not bother. But by the end of our visit with her and sharing a lesson, she was in tears and told us she needs to come back to church and called her son, alan, to come into the room and told him she wants the two of them to come back to church. He said it'd be awkward since it's been a while but she reassured him of it. I'm so grateful for the spirit that softens people's hearts out here. It's only because of the spirit that Iwona had that change of heart.

Family history continues to be a focus for us. We were at the chapel on Thursday dropping some things off and we saw a man parked in his car in the parking lot. We didn't know who it was so we went over and said hello. Turns out he's not a member but was waiting for the family history center to open up. He was 2 hours early for it. He knew that but he had wanted to avoid traffic so he left work early to be there early for it. He's been using familysearch.org for the past few years and noticed online that he could get help with his family history in the church. The church was open and members were doing things inside so we were able to offer him a church tour and he was interested. We gave him a tour and he had loads of questions and I could really feel the spirit as we walked through the church- especially when we were in the chapel. We ended up exchanging contact information too because he overlooks a care center and they are looking for volunteers so we are going to offer a couple of hours of service for him each week. We're excited! He's a great man. Good things are coming.

I love our life right now. Things are going so well. It's such a blessing being able to exchange so much with the sisters in Ireland. They amaze me and it's the best calling in the world being able to spend time with them.

I love you all. I got the word that you're all going to DISNEYLAND in September! ... I'll forgive you ;) You'll have to send me pictures so I can live vicarioulsy through you :) That's so fun!

Love ya,