February 11, 2013

Thank you so much Mom and Dad for your encouraging words. They came at just the right time. I especially liked the story you shared about Elder Tulane and his companion and how they went and did as the spirit directed not knowing what that out come would be. As you said, my companion and I must 'Go Forth in Faith, knowing that the Savior will be with us and we will be directed.

Wow, I've finally made it 1/2 way!! The rest of the time is just going to fly by! I really feel like I've been in another world and it's nice to be back in a familiar area. I really enjoyed my time in Cedar Falls and I love the city of Bettendorf. I hope I'll be able to go back and serve in Bettendorf again. There was a lot of change that took place in such a short amount of time. I learned a lot there and will incorporate as much as I can into this area.

On Thursday we had transfer meeting in Iowa City and before that we had a meeting for all the trainers. There were 26 new missionaries that we welcomed and that is the largest number this mission has seen at one time. My new companion is Sister England and she is from Roy, Utah! She is 20 years old and she talked with her bishop 5 minutes after the announcement about working on her papers. She was going to school at Weber and studying to become a Kindergarten teacher. Her personality is very similar to mine and so things are going great and are a lot less stressful than I imagined.

One of our investigators with a date is Angie. Sister Neville and I started teaching her before I was transferred. Her friend Cathy is also taking the lessons and we are excited for the progress they are making. Angie is very excited to do be baptized for her mother who passed away last March. I asked Sister Neville at transfer meeting how McKenzie was doing, the 10 year old girl we set a date with and she said she hasn't been able to see them at all this last transfer, they haven't been there when she's stopped by and they haven't returned calls. I felt impressed to try this family last Friday and so my companion and I went. We just happened to get there before the two kids went to their Dad's for the weekend. McKenzie had a smile on her face and looked pleased to see us. I asked how her reading of the Book of Mormon was going and she ran to her room and brought back her Children's Book of Mormon. She said she had read Chapter 40 and 41 like we asked. I then asked if she had read any from the other Book of Mormon and she ran to her room and brought back her copy and said they were in Chapter 19! It was so exciting to hear!! I'm looking forward to working with her again.

We are in the same apartment that I was in previously. Sister Neville and the companions she was with did a lot of deep cleaning in the apartment and changed a few things around and it looks amazing. They threw out all the out of date food that was in the kitchen and it just looks great.

The clam chowder was Soo Good on Wednesday!! Sister Wright even had bread bowls for us to put it in. It was so yummy!! I felt bad though because she accidentally cut her finger and had to go to the emergency room because she thought she might need stitches. It turned out that she didn't after all. So we didn't have the clam chowder till 8:30 that night, and I couldn't pass it up even though it was late!

I love you all so much and hope everyone stays safe this week. Hope you have a wonderful Valentine's day!!

Love ya lots,
Sister Tucker