August 5, 2013

Dear Family,
This week we have been so incredibly blessed! Each week we set goals for the week and this week we were really able to surpass some of those goals in areas where we have had a harder time. We had the wonderful opportunity to receive 5 new investigators!! On Wednesday we met with Araceli who speaks Spanish but knows some English. She had met with missionaries before who talked about the restored gospel with her and showed the restoration DVD in Spanish. As we met with her we learned that she has a great love for Joseph Smith's story and she believes that it is true. She has also been reading in the Book of Mormon and she loves saying prayers from her heart instead of route prayers that she was used to before. She has such a desire to continue meeting with us!

We also had the opportunity to meet with Ttolu who is from Nigeria and is a neighbor of the Peterson's in the ward. I was able to share Joseph Smith's first vision with him and afterwards he said that he believed that it was true. He is very close to the spirit and he could feel the spirit in the room. He also was able to feel the spirit of Sister Davis as she bore her testimony later on. He, however, is unsure about the Book of Mormon at this point but we invited him to read and pray about it. We'll be following up with him this week.

On Saturday we met with a potential investigator, Terry, outside the mall who we originally came in contact with at the library. Terry is very religious and it will be interesting to see him progress in the gospel. We invited him to be baptized if he came to know that the Book of Mormon was true and the things we shared as well and he accepted! Towards the end of our lesson with him, however, a big black man came walking up with a bible in his hands and the first thought that came to my mind was, "This man is going to anti us in front of our new investigator". Luckily though, the first thing he said was, "Are you studying the bible and if so can I join you?". We all were a little surprised at this. We said we could meet with him in just a few minutes after we finished with Terry. In talking with him later we learned he had just moved from Chicago a month ago for work down here and he was looking for a church to go to. We'll be in contact with him this week as well!

Another wonderful highlight we had this week was that we were able to meet with Melissa who was a referral from the mission President. A few weeks ago we tried meeting with her but things were really hectic and so we sent a message to her and she soon replied saying that she really wanted to meet with us. She also said she had three children 10, 4 and 2 that she would need someone to watch as we met. We called around to the wonderful ward members and Marisa and her mom were able to help us Saturday evening. Marisa entertained the younger children in the Primary room and Sister Munson came on a church tour with Melissa and her oldest Brody. With the church tour we took them through a few different rooms and presented the restoration. Melissa is so prepared to receive the gospel! Her husband who is currently in jail learned of the church there and has been telling her about it. They both want to go to the temple some day when he is released. The knowledge she has that families can be together forever means so much to her and makes so much sense. When we invited her to be baptized she said that yes she would like to do that and what would she need to do to prepare. We said that we would help her prepare and be ready for her baptism! Tonight we'll meet with her and Brody again and extend a baptismal date. She was also able to come to church yesterday with her three children. The first 5 minutes were a little hard for Melissa at church and she was thinking about not staying but with our help and the help of several members she and the kids stayed all three hours. Things went a lot better when the children were able to go to primary. In the church that Melissa had been going to there was a room for the children to go right away so this was their first time sitting in sacrament. The youngest two climbed over the pews a few times and the youngest ran up to the stand a couple times as well and at one point I had to help her Melissa by walking around the chapel to the other side of the stage where the youngest was in the middle of the pew. Her mom was on one end of the pew and I was at the other end coming towards her. As I approached her I planned to just grab her hand and walk her towards her mom, but instead she reached up for me to pick her up and I did knowing that I shouldn't have because as missionaries we're not to pick up kids but I didn't want to make a big scene in front of the entire congregation. As soon as I reached her mom I sat her down and she walked/ran back to the pew her family was sitting on. The testimonies that were bore were so powerful and I know that they touched the hearts of Melissa, Chris and Laverue.

We were so blessed to have 4 investigators at church! The work is really progressing here in Cedar Rapids and it is so amazing to be a part of. Yesterday a few appointments fell through and I felt impressed that we should drop off the large print Book of Mormon that we had purchased for a couple who lived close by. As we walked there a gentleman asked how our day was and what our sermon was on today. We started talking with him and found out he moved here recently from Mississippi and was looking for a church. We set up a time on Saturday to do a church tour with him and we were able to meet his three friends with him and one of the friends we found out was a member and he can drive everyone to church! The Lord is blessing us so much right now it's incredible. I've been trying hard the last week to really be aware of the quiet whisperings of the spirit and to act on those very small impressions that I receive. Yesterday was one of those times and I felt impressed we need to go to their home and I needed my planner. Because I listened to the promptings and acted on it we were able to meet these prepared people, give them some pass along cards and write down their contact information. As it turns out the couple who's home we were heading to weren't home, but the Lord needed us to go to their apartment in order to meet these people.

I'm so grateful to be a missionary at this time! The Lord is truly hastening his work! I know the gospel is true and that Christ has been able to restore his church on the earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that it does testify of Christ and that we can draw closer to our Father in Heaven as we read and study it. I know that our Father in Heaven loves us so much and he has a plan for each one of us. I know that central to his plan of happiness for us is his Son, Jesus Christ. I know there is great power in the atonement of Jesus Christ and as we exercise our faith in Him and repent we can be cleansed and as we endure faithfully to the end we can live with our Father in Heaven again as a family. I know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God and that as we listen to his council we will be blessed. How grateful I am for the gospel and this knowledge! I leave this testimony with you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!

Love you all lots!!
Sister Tucker

P.S. We had exchanges down in Iowa City on Tuesday and I was able to see Brother Flynn at Hyvee for a few minutes. He said that he just started some of the temple prep classes so that is so exciting!! We also had interviews with President Jensen and that went well.