July 1, 2013

Hello Family!!

This week has been so good! Sister Moldogalii and I are continuing to help with the teaching of Odmandahk who speaks Mongolian and lives in Coralville. Before he didn't believe in God, but this last week he was able to notice many prayers answered and so his faith that there is a God is growing so much!! The Elders in that area were able to get ahold of a Mongolian Book of Mormon and he was so excited to read it after we left. He even asked if we could meet twice a week! He is so amazing! Sister Moldogalii really wishes that she could be transferred down there in July!

Another major highlight from this week is that we have four new investigators!! We were able to meet with Josie and her husband Rick. They were Catholic for a while and then while they were living in the Philippines where they are from, Rick was asked to help start up a church and was a pastor for a while. So he is very familiar with the Bible and asked a lot of good questions. I'm excited to follow up with him and find out what he thinks about the Book of Mormon!

The other investigators we have are Neftali and Paula. He is from Peru and she is from Columbia and speaks Spanish. We met Neftali finding one day. They also had really good questions as well and this week we'll have a couple come with us who knows Spanish and will be able to translate for us. We also found Isaiah who speaks French contacting one day. He lives two doors down from Sister Birdwell in the ward. We have a brother in the ward who knows French and will be able to help translate when he gets back in the middle of July.

This week we also went with Sister Browne who is the Primary President and we were able to get into the home of a less active sister. As we met with her we found out that two of her children, Monica 11 and Jamal 9 haven't been baptized and so we set up a return appointment for this week to begin teaching them. The children are so sweet and we're looking forward to teaching them!! The mother in from Micronesia and her husband is the brother of Betty who we met contacting one day and had the opportunity to teach her once. Oh, one of the less active sisters that is ready to come back to church is from the Marshal Islands. It's amazing to meet so many people from all over the world here in Iowa. Who would have thought??

Today for part of P-day we were able to borrow two tennis rackets and play a little tennis at Ellis Park! I had so much fun, but sadly Sister Moldogalii doesn't like tennis, so I'll have to check with some of the other sisters and see if they would like to play.

Jenna is so excited for her baptism coming up on the 13th of July! She is very smart and asks great questions as well. Last week we talked about Tithing and I gave her 10 cents and we showed her that she could take one cent, pay tithing and keep the remaining 9 cents. We also gave her four cents to pay fast offering. After handing her the tithing slip and the change she stared at it a moment in her hand contemplating. Her mom then said, "If you want you can put the entire 10 cents into tithing." To which an immediate smile came on her face and she shook her head yes. How sweet!

This week we have Zone Conference and we'll be able to meet our new mission president, President Jensen. I'm excited for July 4th as well. I have no idea what we are going to do that day though, but whatever it is it'll be great!

I'm so glad that Tyler, Sydney and McKenzie had a great time this last week! I hope to hear from you how it went!  I'm really glad that everyone returned home safe too!! Sunday morning we got a text from the Assistants to the President and they said that a set a Elders had been involved in a serious accident late the night before and that one had to be life flighted to Des Moines. We haven't received any new updates yet.

The weather has been rainy this last week and there was one day that the tornado siren sounded. I think it may have been last Monday. We had just arrived back from shopping and had just gotten something for lunch so we took that to the Anderson's storage room and sat on the floor for 5 to 10 minutes. Apparently there was a funnel that was spotted near North Liberty which is about 25 or so minutes south of us. The siren went off for maybe 5 minutes. Everything was alright but it was a good test run for us. We learned that next time we need to grab the phone and our 72 hour pack that the Andersons just fixed for us the previous week. Last week during District Meeting we read through what to do in case of an emergency, a piece of paper that is posted to our fridge, and then on Sunday during the 5th hour the EPS (Emergency Preparedness Specialist) in our ward talked about being prepared for emergencies. At one point he asked if anyone knew how to operate a HAM radio or had an interest in learning and I thought to myself, my dad knows how to do that!!

I love you all so much and hope you have a fantastic 4th of July!! Happy Birthday Masie!! I can't wait to meet you!!

P.S. I forgot my companion's birthday!! I remember her telling me that the 19th of June she arrived in the US and that on the 20th she went into the MTC, so we celebrated her 1 yr mark. She had mentioned that her birthday was coming up soon, but I thought she said some time in July. On Saturday the Anderson's texted and asked when her birthday was and she had to think for a moment and then realized that she had forgotten as well. Apparently her birthday was the 21st! That night the Anderson's made us dinner and they bought a cake and Sister Anderson gave Sister Moldogalii a shirt. She loved the cake so much! We were so busy working hard that she forgot her own birthday!

P.P.S. The other day I was thinking about where Katie thought I would serve my mission and I believe she said Outer Mongolia. Well, she was close in that I have a companion from Mongolia!

Well, I better get going now. I love you all so much and I want you to know that I have such a strong testimony that this gospel is true!! It has the power to change people because it is centered on Jesus Christ and the Atonement.

I love you all!!
Sister Tucker