Week.... Is it week 3 in Eager already?

Hi Everyone!

So, I've got to make this short. Love you all! Have a great week! Talk to you next week!
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Just kidding! This is going to be a bit long today :) So this week was interesting in that we weren't able to get out and visit a lot of people untilThursday (according to the doctor, my companion and I had the flu) but on Thursday we were back to our normal schedule! We spent most of that time trying to catch up with our visits, so most of it was just visiting people that we were supposed to visit earlier in the week. On Friday, one of the members took us to breakfast at a place called Java Blues and it was there that I was introduced to the best syrup that I've ever had!! It was like a buttermilk maple syrup or something but that, paired with buttermilk pancakes, was AMAZING!! (Yes, I will be constantly writing about the food here). Most of the rest ofFriday was spent planning and trying to get a hold of one of our referrals, AJ, who is turning out to be a very very hard person to find and who won't answer our calls. Well, I guess we're just going to have to keep being persistent until he tells us he isn't interested or finally meets with us. Of course, if he isn't interested now, they usually have you wait a few months before trying to contact them again, you know, to give them a little space to let the Spirit work on them a bit more.

Friday evening we watched Ephraim's Rescue with the Johnson family.

They are such a great family! The husband is trying to quit Chew and he has made it through a week without relapsing, so hopefully he'll be able to make it past the next 190 days. Technically, if he was smoking, the program that we had him on would enable him to quit and stay clean after a week, but chewing tobacco is different. Anyway we watched Ephraim's Rescue with them and you could feel a change in their house. When we got there, he was a bit grumpy, but after the movie he was pleasant and talking about the Gospel aspects of the film and it was almost a complete 180 from his earlier behavior.

On Saturday, because we are low on miles for our car, we walked around one of our ward areas trying to meet the people that the bishop had marked on the Ward Directory. We met a few really nice people and we felt impressed to head over to AJs place again (persistence!) and it was there that we ran into a guy named Grady. He was visiting his sister and he was just outside having his  "smoke" when we walked up. We talked to him a bit and found out that he believed in God and that his ex-wife was LDS. We asked him what he knew about her beliefs and when he said "not much" we told him that we believe God and Christ and gave him a Book of Mormon to read. It was kind of cool. I don't know if he'll actually read it and contact us, but the seed has been planted. Saturday evening we had a really good dinner at a less-active/part-member home and it was really good! I am now going to be cooking apples with brown sugar for a snack whenever I'm hungry. The investigator's name is Deirdra and it was nice to get to talk to her and her family in a more comfortable setting because whenever we've visited, she's been distracted by her kids and this time, they weren't a distraction, so we were able to gauge that she is still interested in hearing more. That, and she's been going to CHURCH!!

We watched Ephraim's Rescue again on Saturday night with the Wycoffs. They've been through a really hard time, and brother Wycoff has been trying to quit chewing as well. They're always so kind to us and I really hope that we can get them back to church because it would help them so much!

Sunday was great...

I spoke in Sacrament Meeting on Service. It's funny because I was really really nervous until I got up to the pulpit and then I got really calm and I gave my talk. I guess it wasn't MY talk because I didn't say anything that I'd prepared, but I gave a talk on Service and how we are God's hand to show his love to his children and I shared the story about the Christus statue that Pres. Uchtdorf shared in one of his talks. It was an enlightening experience. I KNOW that I didn't prepare what I gave, and I guess that was the Lord using me as his hands, or mouthpiece, to say what that congregation needed to hear.

Sunday evening we taught a new convert the first lesson again. He had so many questions about what he didn't quite understand, but I knew exactly what he was asking and I knew exactly how to answer his questions. I know that when we are obedient and when we are constantly praying, God uses us to help others. He won't always answer our prayers immediately, but he can and does answer our prayers through others. Thank you all for being the answers to my prayers, even though I'll bet none of you had any idea that you were answering a prayer. I love you all so much and I'm so grateful that we'll be together forever and I KNOW that this Gospel is true and that God has restored his priesthood power through Joseph Smith. And I KNOW that families can be together forever through the everlasting covenants that we make in the temple. I know it and I know that God knows that I know it, and I can't deny it.

Love,
Steph

PS Mom, next week I'm sending you a recipe for a pecan pie that will actually SET!

I almost forgot! Here are some pics from our hike up Flat Top this week and driving around with the Hermanas.