March 4, 2013

Dear Family,

Last Tuesday we had a snow storm that came through and gave us 7 or more inches of snow. As you've mentioned, we are expected to get another snow storm today some time. Last Tuesday we had planned to have an exchange with the Spanish Sisters from Des Moines but we had to reschedule. We had some awesome plans made so we were a little saddened that they didn't work out. Since our cars were grounded, we decided to pick a few streets close by and do some finding. There was a woman on the first street that invited us to come back in the afternoon some day and meet with her. We then walked to the other street which was several blocks away and along the way we saw a gentleman shoveling his driveway. We asked if he had some extra shovels and he said he did. He then said he was Baptist and if that would be a problem and we said, "That's no problem at all". As shoveled with him he shared that he has a friend who is a member of our church and that he lives in Ankeny. His friend's name didn't sound familiar so he must be in the Ankeny lst ward. It was a very pleasant time we were able to spend with him and afterwards we were on our way. Oh, don't worry, we did leave him with a Mormon.org card :) At some point we came to a cross roads and remembering the street layout I knew that if we went down this one street we would have to back track but I saw a gentleman down this street that was shoveling snow and the thought came to me that he probably wouldn't let us help him, but then the thought came, It doesn't hurt to offer our help. So down this street we walked, with the snow blowing in our face and sticking to our coats. When we got to the man I asked if he had an extra shovel and he said he didn't. I then noticed a shovel lying up against his neighbors house and asked if he thought they wouldn't mind if we borrowed it. He thought that would be fine. We had quite a good conversation with this man and all of the questions that he asked us were many of the key points from Lesson 1, The Restoration. Sister England ended up basically giving this man the restoration lesson. We gave him a Book Of Mormon and he said we could come back next week :) By the time we got to the last street we had originally planned on, everything was very quiet and the few homes we knocked on weren't receptive. We both really felt impressed that the walk to that street was important because we were able to meet Brian and we wouldn't have if we hadn't planned on going to the other street.

Another highlight from the week is that on Wednesday we met with Raelyn at the Bouchers and we asked her what she thought of church on Sunday. She said that sacrament meeting was a little loud but that she felt that Relief Society was just for her. We felt so glad to hear this because we were so worried. The reason for our worry is that it was on an unusual topic - Child Abuse. She told us that she has nieces and nephews that are going through a tough time right now and she gained a lot from the lesson. She also said that Gospel Principles was great and it was on prophets. She mentioned that she didn't say too much during class, but when a question was asked, the response that came to her mind was right along with what someone would mention and so she felt very unified with the class. That night we invited her to be baptized for April 27th and she said she would talk with her husband and if he was supportive of her decision then she would work towards being baptized then. On Sunday after stake conference she was so excited to tell us that she had a dream earlier in the week where she was baptized in the temple! She then said she talked with her husband and he was supportive but as of right now he wouldn't attend her baptismal service. We will keep him in our prayers and we feel that his heart will be softened by the time she is baptized. We are so thrilled to hear of how she is progressing!

Angie, another of our investigators was also able to be at stake conference yesterday. It was a broadcast from Salt Lake City and Elder Dallin H. Oaks was the last speaker. Before the meeting began I took out a notebook and pen and gave it to Angie. She looked at me with a questioning face and I said it's to write down notes or anything that you want to remember later. By the end of conference she had a page full of notes!! Before Elder Oaks spoke I mentioned that he was an Apostle and she paid really close attention. She has three kids that came yesterday and they did well for the first 10 or 15 minutes, but then the Elders from the 1st ward came and took the oldest two to the primary room with all the toys. The youngest who is 2 did well with her mom and us and she colored on some of the pages I had brought for them to color on.

Oh, another quick highlight is that we met with a member in the ward and talked about Preach My Gospel with him. We really wanted to help him in his missionary efforts. We asked if he knew of someone who would be interested in hearing a message from us and he said he didn't know of anyone at the time. On Sunday he called us and told us one of his friends from college wanted to meet with us!! We were so excited!! I had felt so impressed earlier in the week that we should meet with him because he might have a friend who we could teach! Unfortunately she lives in the 1st ward boundaries :( However we are so excited for her and for the Elders that will be teaching her :)

Well, I need to be heading off, but those are a few of the highlights from this last week that I wanted to make sure I told you about. It's a great time to be helping the work of the Lord progress and to see miracles taking place. There truly are people being prepared to receive the gospel in their life and what a great blessing it has been to work with the ward members in finding those prepared.

I love you all so much!!!

-Sister Tucker