June 13, 2011

Hey Family and Friends!

How are you all doing? It sounds like you are having fun in California! That is pretty awesome that you were able to just go! That will be a great memory! I love going on trips! This has been a very long one but one of my favorites! Here... It has been a really great week! We are continuing to find more people to teach. We found 3 new investigators this week! Even though 2 already dropped us. But that is ok. We taught them a great Restoration and Plan of Salvation lesson. The husband just said that he was old and stubborn and would never change; even if he found out what we were telling him was true. The wife and daughter were more interested than he was and they are going to continue to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. So it was good because we taught some good lessons and they now know more about the church. We are also working with Betty Dumas! She is the 60 year old black women! I love her! She just cracks me up! Well we taught her the Word of Wisdom this week and she just gave up her coffee and tea. She said if it's a commandment then I better live it! She has so much faith it's incredible! She came to church this week and is going to be baptized on June 25th and 12 p.m. I am so blessed to be able to see another of God's children enter into the waters of baptism! We also have another person Mary Ferril on date for July 9th! We are having a few issues with her and her x-fiancé right now but hopefully those will all be resolved. She is trying to quit smoking and drinking tea! She has such a desire to live her life the way Christ wants’ her to. She is an amazing person! She is also a nut! We have such a fun time getting to know these wonderful children of God and teach them! I just love them so much! You really can't do this work without love! It is the driving force of the Gospel! If we didn't love your Heavenly Father then we wouldn't want to keep his commandments or even live with him. And if we don't love our brothers and sisters why would we want to share this wonderful news with them! We have to love everyone! It's so important to pray for charity! Moroni exhorts us to pray for charity in Moroni 7:45-48 (go and read it)! But the work continues to roll forward! I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is Christ's church on the earth today! I know that he lives and loves each of us! I am grateful to share the gospel with all those around us! I want to always share the gospel! It is a commandment for each of us to do! Member missionaries are so important. We had 286 baptisms as a mission last year and 80% of those were member referrals! It is so important to be an example and to open our mouths!

Love, Sister Madison Whitney