July 30, 2012

Hello family,

Another week down, so one less to go right?! Ha ha. Not like I am counting or anything. I don't even know how long I have been out here in Courtenay. Seems like it has been years.

Things are going pretty well here. Things happen, but that is part of life right? The investigators we have been working with have yet to come to church. Ah, it is so frustrating! I think I mentioned that last week, so I will not talk more on it.

Big news from here! We have a baptism set for two days before transfers. We don't know if we will be transferred, but it is awesome that he wants to be baptized before one of us leaves. He is the cutest kid ever. He is 10 years old. His sister, mom, and grandpa are all baptized but less active. They are coming back to church (we are still working on the grandpa) and loving it. We are hopefully getting his older sister involved with the YSA. We are doing FHE Monday nights with the YSAs. Sometimes we have trouble teaching him, but he is super excited for the date. He is already telling all his friends. I will send pictures when I can.

I need to work on that. One of my goals is taking a picture everyday. I think I have taken 6 since I have been here in Courtenay. I need to work on that.

Life is full of ups and downs. We have been working with a lot of less active members who want to come back, but for some reason won't. It is hard to see that they have lost that joy and love they once felt. I want to give it to them. I want to share it with them. I can't when they don't want it though.

One thing that we talked about in District Meeting really hit me hard. We were talking about the Book of Mormon. I agree with Elder Holland when he said "For 179 years this book has been examined and attacked, denied and deconstructed, targeted and torn apart like perhaps no other book in modern religious history—perhaps like no other book in any religious history. And still it stands. Failed theories about its origins have been born and parroted and have died—from Ethan Smith to Solomon Spaulding to deranged paranoid to cunning genius. None of these frankly pathetic answers for this book has ever withstood examination because there is no other answer than the one Joseph gave as its young unlearned translator. In this I stand with my own great-grandfather, who said simply enough, “No wicked man could write such a book as this; and no good man would write it, unless it were true and he were commanded of God to do so.” How powerful! You should listen to that talk. It is Safety for the Soul by Elder Holland. We talked about the moment when we realized the Book of Mormon is the Word of God. It was amazing to listen to my fellow missionaries explain just a part of what makes them... well them!

I testify that it is true.

Please ponder that. When did you really see that the Book of Mormon is true?

I love you all. Have a wonderful week!

Sister Saal