June 18, 2012

Hello Family!!

Thanks for all your prayers! When I face hard times I will remind myself that others are praying for the work to continue forward and then I'll press forward in the work of the Lord. We've been planning to teach lesson 1 of Preach My Gospel this week which is on the Restoration of the Gospel and there were countless times this last week that for one reason or another we weren't able to. On Saturday we had an appointment with a potential investigator, but she was too tired from work and there were too many distractions at the time so we set up a time this week to return and visit. We then thought maybe we were to talk with other potential investigator who lives in the area, but we soon found out she wasn't home. We then pressed on and went to contact a referral, but soon found out that she had no idea how we could have gotten her name and she was Not interested in hearing from us. We then decided to visit a lady who has been investigating the church the last year, but has never been home the other times we stop by. Apparently she hasn't been taught the last 6 months or so because she didn't get along with a previous Sister Missionary. We knocked at her door and she answered. She greeted us very warmly and invited us to come right in, but apologized for the mess. She had just gotten back from fishing. She went on to explain some hard things that were happening in her life at the time. She is a black women in her 50's with a daughter in her twenties who is in the army. She had been told by previous missionaries to teach us, so she was trying to teach us about the Book of Mormon and to explain what she understood from her reading so far. We learned a lot about this women, whom neither of us had met before, and that there is a lot we need to help her understand about the Book of Mormon and the Gospel of Christ. It was so good to see her at church yesterday!

We had three investigators at church this last Sunday, June 17th. One of them is 12 years old and she went to girls camp for the first time last week. She had a great time and told her grandmother all about it!! My companion and I took her to her Sunday school class yesterday and then we went on to Gospel Doctrine. There are only six girls total in Young Women's.

Our Bishop in the 4th Ward is wonderful to work with. He has a great love for the people and the gospel. The Ward Mission Leader is amazing as well. The ward is very missionary minded and are very willing to help in any way.

Next week, Friday, June 29 through Sunday, July 1st, we will be having Called to Serve. With the program, youth are set apart for that period of time as a missionary and they will be working with us. It's kind of like the mini mission that Rob did with Randy. My companion and I will be split up and we will each have two sisters with us. This will be very interesting since I'm still very new. President Jergensen and Sister Jergensen were at both of our wards yesterday (we were unaware they were planning on being there) and President Jergensen talked to us about the Called to Serve program a little more. He mentioned that I should start driving around this week and getting more familiar with the area. So I'll start driving around today and getting used to the van. My companion has a GPS that we've been using. I may have you send out my GPS later down the road so that when I'm transferred to a new area I can use it. They are working on getting all the cars equipped with a GPS, but it's not in very many at the moment.

On Saturday we were helping a family in the ward clean their home in preparation for their move this week and my companion and I got talking with her dad who was recently serving in France. He told us of how the work in Africa was going and apparently they are baptizing people in the thousands everyday. The Lord is really preparing the hearts of the people. They have to make sure however, that the person lives within three hours of a meeting house, otherwise they can't be baptized at that time.

We have a definite baptism date set with an investigator for July 7th. It is amazing to hear his testimony and belief as we meet with him. He knows the path he is on currently towards baptism is what the Lord would have for him and he is so determined to follow the Lord and to not fight against him. He knows the path he was on before was not leading him in the right direction, but he is confident that this path he is on know is correct. He said the Lord sent the Sister Missionaries to him because without them he knows he would have been back in Jail.

I came across a few verses this week during my personal study that I want to share. In Alma 18:34, the first line is really good at explaining that we are created after the image of God. For me personally, I like when it goes on to say, "... and I am called by his Holy Spirit to teach these things unto this people, that they may be brought to a knowledge of that which is just and true; (vs 35) And a portion of that Spirit dwelleth in me, which giveth me knowledge, and also power according to my faith and desires which are in God." I think I will write this out and hang it on a mirror as a reminder each morning.

On Thursday we had Zone Conferences and they talked a lot about mormon.org. We received some new mormon.org pass along cards that are very nice. Someone with a smart phone can scan it and it will open up the website and bring them to the page on our beliefs. We've been encouraged to make a profile on there and I would encourage you all to take some time and create a profile as well. There is a lot of really helpful information for investigators on this page and it is an amazing tool we have in sharing the gospel. We are strongly encouraged to invite others to check out mormon.org. While they are at the website they can chat with a missionary at the MTC. These missionaries are called specifically to answer these calls. Some are disabled and are unable to track or unable to handle the demands of a full time mission. This investigator is passed on to the full time missionaries in their area. One missionary at the MTC kept tracked of the people whom he chatted with on the website till they were baptized and it was over 100!! They are having great success with mormon.org, so much, that some of their computers in Salt Lake are crashing because they can't keep up with the demand. It's an amazing time in which we live!! Let us all work to prepare the hearts of men for the coming of the Savior!!

I love you all and am so grateful for each of you!! Take Care!!!

Love,

Sister Tucker