It's fixin' to be May this week!

April 28, 2008

Dear family and friends--
This last week was an extremely emotional rollercoaster. There were some really down moments for me, emotionally, but also some great times. The two highs were probably our two baptisms! Cory (16) and Ashley (11) were baptized on wed and sat., and both baptisms went well. The ward members here are so amazing, and always willing to help us out in any way we need. Ashley's mom, Heather, came to her baptism, and she apparently was seen crying a couple times; we are hoping and praying that she will want to change her life soon and follow the example of her daughter. Actually, at the baptism, Heather was very upset because the man she is living with, his son is coming up from Mexico (he's mexican) this week, and the guy is apparently trying to break he and Heather up so his son doesn't find out about them living together, cuz I guess he's still married to a woman in Mexico. Anyway, we're hoping that he DOES break up with Heather because then they wouldn't be living together, and that would be one step closer to her being able to join the church. She likes the church a lot, and is very supportive of her kids going to our church, but there are some things in her life she is not willing to change right now. So pray that Heather's life will take a turn for her to be able to change so we can teach her.
Another highlight was on sat. night, our ward mission leader left a message on our phone (every companionship has a cell phone, FYI; it's very very nice and helpful!!) telling us that the family (Campbells) that this other family in our ward, the Wagners, have been working with for a while are ready and want to hear the lessons!!!! We are so excited! They have 4 kids with one on the way, and they want to be taught!! They said they want to start out in a couple weeks and see how it goes, so pray for the Campbells to be prepared by the spirit and for them to know of the truth when they hear it.
One of the less active families (the Elskamps--I think I may have mentioned them before) that we have been working with we had a great lesson with this week. When we got there they all got out their scriptures and hymnals, which had never happened before, so that was great progress! Bro. Elskamp really has a desire to go back to church and to know the truth and to have his family go back to church too. At our lesson he confided in us some things that are standing in the way, including some doctrinal issues he still doesn't fully understand or have a testimony of, also some word of wisdom issues, which he is actively working on overcoming. He believes in the church, you can tell, and he has such a good heart, so we are really excited to help him overcome those obstacles, and help him have a testimony again, and eventually get him and his wife and 3 kids back to church. They committed to having daily family prayer too, so they are progressing!
We taught a young mother named Elizabeth this week that the elders actually contacted when they were with us last sunday, giving a couple of our investigators blessings. But Elizabeth is 25, married, and has a cute little 18-month old boy. She's from Mexico and her husband is from the Dominican Republic (go Peter Jones:), but they've been here for a while, so she knows English pretty well, which is very nice (there are a lot of spanish speaking people in a couple areas in our area, and it's hard cuz we dont really know a whole lot). We taught her the first lesson (husband was at work) and she was very receptive and it went really well, so that was exciting! We haven't been able to teach her since cuz she hasn't been home when we go over, but we are planning on it tomorrow. Pray for her to stay interested. She actually reminds me a little of you, Rosanna.:)
Ann, one of the old women we've been teaching, quit smoking this week, and hasn't had a cigarette for a week now, as far as we know. So that's been good. She feels sick a lot though, especially on sundays (go figure), and that bad knee of hers... so she still hasn't come to church, but hopefully soon...
OH! Our ward had a talent show on friday night, and it was so fun!! We got to help set up, eat the great food, and we were actually in it too! Ha! We sang a medley of primary songs that we changed the words to to be a missionary medley. It was a loooonnnggg talent show, and we were towards the very end, so people had gone home, others were tired, so we didn't get very many laughs out of it, but some. :) oh well, we were entertained. Maybe it really wasn't that funny... But our ward is so talented! Holy cow, kids sang, played the fiddle, did skits, sang more, did flipping and break dance stunts, and a bunch of families displayed talents on tables. It was really fun, we are in a really great ward.
So some items of business:
Welcome back to the motherland, Tisah! I know you flew back from Romania last Monday, but I forgot to mention it then. Sorry. So how's being back in Mapleton? I love you!
Happy birthday Lindsay and Joe!! I remembered Joe's, but I was thinking yours was in May for some reason Lindsay, sorry. Rosanna told me about them both though, thanks Rosnanna!
Josephina! I must say I thoroughly enjoyed your email, I'm so glad you still exist--I suspected as much, but proof is always good. And thank you for the compilation of pictures of Captain Humble. Yes, you still look as good as good as you probably did last time I saw you...which may not be saying a lot... ;) jk! And joe and Sal, sorry about the lack of your emails on the list, I was never totally sure if i remembered your email addresses correctly, so I usually didn't or never included them, just assumed someone (Camille) would forward. Sorry, nothing personal. :) I am repenting and changing my ways now though.
Rosanna and Stevo--good job on your talks! Mom and Dad both said you did great. And I'm glad you used that analogy, it definitely puts the sciptures into perspective for me. I have a confession. I didn't pray for your lasik surgery until I read your email today. So if it didn't go well, it's probably my fault. But I have since prayed for your eyes, so hopefully you are recovering nicely. :) But how did it go? I'm dying to know! Are you officially ditching the glasses?
Camilley, thank you for the pics!! Christian is darling, of course, and he's looking more and more like you I think. He is also looking so old! Aaaa! But just curious, what's snail mail?
Mom and dad, thanks for your emails and your weekly letters, they really keep me going and I love them! Sorry for the unanwered Mom questions this time around, I forgot to bring your letter to the library. I'll try to answer them next time though. I love you guys so much! Thank you for being the most amazing parents in the world. You two are such incredible examples of everything good, I miss you! Thank you, thank you for your constant support, it really means a lot.
I love you all!
Love, Melissa
PS--Natalia! Thank you for your letter! I can't tell you how much I needed that that day, it was a little bit of a rough day. It was so good to hear from you! And I was so excited to see that you have moved into my old apartment! Is the cereal wall still up? :) I'm assuming not, but just wondering.
Amie--where are you living now? What are you doing?
Tina--I love you! How did school end up? What are you doing now? Could you email me (to this email) Anna's address and/or email address that she is currently using? I would SO appreciate that! Tell her I think about her all the time and that I love her. Thanks Christina! :)
Brittani--thanks for the update--so when are you coming out here?