January 14, 2013

Subject:  January 14, 2013 From Candace Smith‏

Mi familia,

I don't remember anything that I wrote last week, and I'm a little out of it, so please forgive me if this letter makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

With that warning, this week has been interesting. I found out that I know pretty much nothing about anything but praying out here, which is pretty much the only thing you have to know, but some info about the ward members or actually knowing how to get anywhere would be nice. The GPS keeps trying to make us leave the mission :/

Sister Young was in her last area for 7.5 months, so she knew a lot about it. I think I know 10 people in the single's ward. I seriously am so bad with names.

It's okay though. We are learning how to work together and learn the area. We are also learning the map so that we don't break any rules by leaving our area :)

I have lost my brain and can't think of anything else to say...

Hey, could everyone send me their favorite scripture? That would be really cool! 

--  Candace, is there any special things you want me to do or get for Linnette while she is here? (The first sister baptized in Candace area is in Phoenix)

Study the scriptures a little with her if you can. She is an amazing woman, and I'm not sure who would learn more from the study.

Oh, and show her indexing if you can.

--  How are the new companionships?

Sister Young is great! She has a fun sense of humor. She really likes things to be clean, so I'm pretty sure she cleaned our entire apartment while I slept today (I'm a little sick because I haven't been sleeping well.) Anyway, she is great at working with ward members, especially since she whitewashed (or pinkwashed) or last ward from Elders who weren't obeying rules. She worked with tons of Less Active families and got to know the whole ward.


-- What was your most spiritual experience?

We were driving down Sherwood Lane (just a little neighborhood street that i love the name of) and we saw a mom and two kids gardening in the front yard. We stopped and came back to talk to them. They moved to Marietta two months ago from Woodstock and she was trying to find a church to go to. We asked if she had ever heard of the Book of Mormon, and she said that yes she had. Her husband's family was members, and they had been to church with them a few times. We asked if we could come share a message with her family and she said, "Sure, how about tonight?" We scheduled for 6:30pm. When we got there, it was raining and they were in the middle of dinner. We expected to have the door slammed. She came to the door and welcomed us in, asked us if we were hungry, and then sat with us and listened. The entire family gathered around as we shared what the church believes and how we can know it's true. The dad sat and was nodding his head the whole time. So, when we left, we asked when we could come back, and they said that any night but Wednesday was good, just drop on by.

The dad was raised with a methodist mother and a LDS father. He chose the methodist church because Sunday services were shorter :) So we don't know if he has been baptized or not, but the rest of his family hasn't. His wife Leigh and daughter Chloe are now investigators, and I'm sure the two youngest, Madeline and Owen, will listen too. It was an awesome experience on Sister Young's first night here!