Week 42: Pool Party!

March 10, 2014

My dearest family and friends!!!

(The email title is what Elders Bartlett and Butters called our Sunday this past week). :)

It has been a wonderful (and probably my most difficult) week yet! I feel like Satan has been thrashing me around like a rag doll this week, but I should've expected that. The week before a baptism is always the hardest!

I've been thrashed around mostly with self-doubt and struggles to love my companion. Satan is the worst! It's seriously been so frustrating because I feel like I'm pretty good at loving people, so it's been upsetting to feel like I can't get along with Sister Watts. I have to do better this next week at focusing on her positive attributes. And I have to do better at feeling like/trusting that I know what I'm doing. This week I've been really struggling to feel like I know how to find more people to teach.

But let's list the finding miracles that have happened!

1. We got a referral from Salt Lake for a "golden" investigator. Although she's not interested now, it was still a miracle!

2. Two non-member girls who have been coming to our branch for a long time are now available to teach! (The situation they were in before was making it difficult for us to teach them.)

3. WE FINALLY HEARD BACK FROM MAYA JOHNSON! And the Elders visited her house on Saturday and taught her and her friend Allison who seemed really interested, so we'll be teaching them both this week!

4. I KNOW there are more.

Every time I feel hopeless, something like this pops up and it reminds me that this is the Lord's work and He can make it happen. I just have to have the faith and courage to rely on the Spirit and to do the very best I can to be the most efficient and worthy instrument in His hands.

And let's talk about how awesome the baptism was yesterday! It was so crazy to see Susannah, who can't read or write, sitting next to George, who went to Harvard and Columbia. Crazy, but so beautiful to realize that no matter our situation, we are all children of a loving Heavenly Father who has given us everything we need. He has given us a Savior who has paid the price for us to return home and no matter our situation, if we follow Him and rely on His Atonement, we will have happiness and peace! It was so beautiful to see the tears in Susannah's eyes after she came out of the water. So beautiful. After she got dressed, she put her beautiful Liberian head-wrap back on and then did a little dance and said, "You came to baptize me in the name of JESUS!" It was so cute and so funny! :) I love it when the Liberian sisters in our branch say "Amen!" and "YES!" in the middle of our prayers because they agree with something we've said. Haha! :)

And I just love EVERYONE in our branch! They feel like my family. They were so helpful with the baptisms. Crystal Bushman gave a beautiful and scholarly talk on the gift of the Holy Ghost (she is a beautiful soul- I just want to be like her!) and President Fairbank was so helpful at basically running the show. And Sister Daly, the ultimate giver, played the piano while juggling her little Clara without missing a note. Also, Sister Fairbank sang a beautiful rendition of "My Shepherd Will Supply My Need." (I want to sing the MoTab duet with her). :)

I feel like I've overused the word "beautiful" today, but it just describes this work so perfectly. :) And the difficulty and struggles that come with the miracles are what help to make it so.

I love you all so much! Thank you for your love and prayers! I can feel them. This is the Lord's work! The gospel has been restored by a loving Heavenly Father who has a perfect plan for us! What a blessing!

Please pray for our investigators!

Sherri and Chantel Newton

Maya Johnson

and ALL the potentials we are working on this week! :) (including Mychelle Briggs and Kaylin Waite)

MUCH love,

Sister Wheeler Jr.

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY LARE!!! I hope it's a wonderful day full of learning and nice weather. :)

P.P.S. Mom and Dad, I am so glad you met Chun!! I love her so much! I feel like you had more time to get to know her than I have and I'm so glad!