Email noventa y siete

June 25, 2018

Well folks this weeks ain’t gonna be super long because I spent a few hour writing the email I was supposed to send last week.

This week was a test of faith for sure. We have been doing a lot of knocking doors and street contacting, without much success. It felt like everywhere we went someone had gone before us and told them the Mormons where coming through and not to talk to them, because almost everyone we talked to wanted nothing to do with us. Two different times, people we walked up just started saying bye in till we walked away. I’m pretty used to getting rejected, but for some reason the rejection was more harsh and more frequent than usual, and it really got me down. I got super discouraged this week, and sorta dragged my feet a little bit. However, we did see a couple miracles this week. Elder Brinkerhoff came up from Holly Springs on Wednesday and did an exchange with me, and we met a 24 year old kid named B, and he’s awesome! We knocked on his door and he said right away he has been looking to get back into a church. He said he got out of church because of some bad experiences. His life has really gone downhill since a family member passed away when he was a teenager. He is looking to strengthen his relationship with God, and he wants to better himself. He believes we are all children of God and that this life is to practice for the life to come. He’s really excited to meet with us! I had talked to his brother's girlfriend my first week in Southaven, and that house had always just stuck in my mind for some reason, so I thought: “why not?” We’re hoping we can see him this week.

Unfortunately we couldn’t see V this week, but we’re hoping to get her to church soon.

From Friday to Sunday we had exchanges with the Assistants, and I paired off with Elder Smalling. That’s right, we have almost the same name. When we talked to people and they asked for our names their reactions were so funny! I actually sat next to him on the plane from the MTC, and he had his mind blown because he saw his own house after taking off. He’s incredible, such a powerful missionary! He talks to absolutely everyone that he sees, and he knows Preach My Gospel and the scriptures so well. He definitely helped me out a ton, and we were able to meet a lot of awesome people, without ever leaving our apartment complex because we literally talked to everyone! When he left on the mission, his family wasn’t active, but he’s been able to email some ward leaders and coordinate some fellowship that has pulled them back into activity. So cool! It just shows that people just need a friend sometimes.

While on exchanges with Elder Smalling, we did splits with Southaven 2, and I went with Elder Garn. We found a really cool family. The parents are named Jenny and Chris. We talked to them about the Book of Mormon, and I felt impressed to give the son a Bible, turns out that day was his 10th birthday and he was really excited to have a birthday present. I marked it in the Gospel of John and told him to read the Book of John. The parents absolutely loved it, no better way to win over a southern family than giving their son a free bible for his birthday! They really are a beautiful family with a well off home, I’m really excited for Elder Garn and Elder Caringer to work with them.

T is now on track to be baptized July 7!

It’s absolutely ridiculous that my best friend, Elder Stallings goes home in two days...good thing I don’t go home for a while...haha...

Love y’all!