Some pictures of our house! It's quite strange to be in a house instead of an apartment. My desk is a mess... You see some ant killer... my calendar... and a typewriter! I found that here. It is so cool. Missionaries collect some of the weirdest things, especially elders. And in the first picture, there's the piano. I've been practicing!
Yeah, it's a little more maintenance than an apartment... But so worth it! Oh man, I love it. It's owned by a less active member in the branch who rents it to the church. I'm pretty sure it's because there aren't many apartment complexes in Paris. The young men and the branch presidency helped us do some yard work the other day, which was good.
Thanks to mom for the keyboard cord, I've been plunking away :) I don't think that I'll have to be the Relief Society pianist much longer, since a new family moved in and the wife can play. I think I'll still try to practice though... Can't hurt, and who knows if I'll need to play again some time in the future!
This week was a really good week for missionary work! We've been finding new investigators every week, and this week we were able to teach 10 lessons to investigators and 10 lessons to recent converts/less active members. We have a couple of investigators who are really amazing...
I told you about Annie. Well, we've been able to meet with her a couple of times, and they've gone really well. She hasn't come to church yet (none of our investigators have, which is the tough part. Come to church!), but I think she will. She wants her daughters to start learning about the church as well, which is awesome! I think we're going to start the lessons with them tonight.
Rhonda is struggling a bit more. It's tough, because she's gotten very comfortable with missionaries, so she knows what we do. She has a lot of questions about her testimony and what we believe.
Toni is doing surprisingly well! We were nervous about teaching her, because she is a little different, but she watched the DVD we left with her (The Restoration) and read the pamphlet, and accepted The Book of Mormon. We read 1 Nephi 8 with her, and the Spirit definitely was there. Unfortunately, we had that lesson outside, and the mosquitoes are thriving again... Good-bye, legs that aren't covered with red bumps (I wear bug spray! I promise! Just forgot that day...).
One of the new investigators we picked up this week is Dana. She is an interesting woman. She's a self-proclaimed workaholic, and has a lot of faith in Christ. But she moved here from Arizona, where one of her best friends was LDS. I don't know if she's investigating out of curiosity, because she likes talking to Godly people, or out of interest... Probably mostly the first two. But hey, that's alright for starters :)
Anyway, I love the people here and the work is going well! Paris may be a small town, but there's a lot of potential. The branch is going to kick off a "home teacher v. visiting teacher" competition next month, to hopefully boost our home and visiting teaching (I'm really gaining a testimony of how important those are! They unify the members. Go and do it!). And this Sunday is the baptism of the 10-year-old son of the Primary president. It is so weird to count that as a baptism, but hey, rules are rules! We're hoping we'll be able to have some investigators come. Baptisms are always really spiritual experiences. I love to go!
From my personal study this week... I have been all over the place. In the Book of Mormon, I was reading in 2 Nephi 22, which is the Isaiah chapters. I love these verses: "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid; for the Lord JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also has become my salvation. Therefore, with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation."
When we teach about the plan of salvation, we usually begin by talking about salvation, and what salvation means. It means being saved, of course, but in the gospel, it means being saved from both physical and spiritual death (sin). So, Jesus Christ is our salvation from death, but how do we draw water from the wells of salvation? As I thought about it, I thought one thing that might mean is that we can draw upon the power of the Atonement. The Atonement is the means by which salvation comes, and we can draw upon its power and feel that joy. Daily! We should daily draw strength, forgiveness, and power from the Atonement.
Well, I think I'm going to be kicked off shortly, so...
Be good! I LOVE YOU ALL!
Sister Barret
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