This week has been extra busy and very blessed. Our Ward had
a Trunk or Treat Wednesday night and we really enjoyed all of the children.
Elder Carmack made his delicious chili for the chili-soup potluck before the
trunk-or-treat. Almost every family in the Ward brought someone to the
activity. We think there were about half less-active and non-member families
there. It was a great success.
Our Ward has an investigator who is golden. She had an experience
when the young Elders went to teach her that has kept her so strong in her
faith. She knows that the church is true and the Book of Mormon is true. She
has given our Ward and our mission a whole new feeling of why we are here. We
love listening to her conversion story in Gospel Principles class. She has been
seeking the truth for a long time. She is 74 years old and is a delight. She is
getting baptized Saturday and we are so happy for her.
We have been asked to teach the missionary lessons to
another great family in the Ward. The 15-year-old is very well prepared for his
missionary discussions already. He did a great job answering all of the
questions right for the Restoration. He agreed to commit to reading a chapter
of Preach My Gospel every month and to do the lesson once a month from the back
of the chapter with one of the topics under Personal Study and Companionship
Study. His mom has been less-active for a while and is wanting to get back into
full activity. We are so thrilled she asked us to come to their home every
Tuesday evening.
We have a couple who are getting ready to go to the Temple
from the Addiction Recovery Program. They are doing so well and that is their
goal. Our Area President just gave the Mission Presidents permission to let the
senior couples go to the Temple twice a year. We are so thrilled about that.
The Columbus Temple is our Temple and it is out of our area so we have not been
able to go to the Temple. We have missed the extra blessings of the Temple
since we have been here. We are looking forward to going to the Temple when
they are sealed.
Elder Carmack was honored to stand in the circle for a name
and a blessing of the youngest member of our FHE family. He is 2-years-old. He
sat on his mother’s lap and was very quiet the whole time. The Spirit was so
strong when his father gave him the blessing.
All of the senior couples in the mission were invited to the
annual dinner at an Amish home. We had the best homemade roast and chicken
dinner with all the fixings and great company. The Amish couple’s grandchildren
were our waitresses and they sang some songs for us at the end of the dinner.
The elderly Amish couple, who sponsored the dinner, answered some of our
questions about the Amish religion too. We sang a song to them in return, “Love
At Home”, and had a wonderful time together.
The Lord saw us through the very hard and tedious Petition
for Naturalization Records. We prayed every day for help with those. We are now
on to the beautiful Marriage Records. We are so grateful. We are working hard to steadily increase
our goal for each week and feel the Lord is buoying us up in this very sacred
work.
We feel so blessed to be serving a mission at this time and
in this place. General Conference was so inspired and a historical event. We
love re-listening to the messages each day. We love our mission and we love and
miss all of you. Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support.
