Letter Dated March 17, 2014

Hello!! :) 

How is everything going? 

Okay, so this week, wasn't the most intense week.  Things were kind of slow moving. But we still had good experiences!! 

Monday we had a really fun P-day and topped it off with dinner at a members house! :) Sister B's husband is a member of the Bishopric and after dinner we were talking about the people we were teaching and they just about gave Sister Rock and I a heart attack because they had us convinced that we had been teaching someone that was out of our area....we were so sad! Turns out they  really are in our area...just on the very edge border! haha so that was a relief! The B's are suuper nice and they are so kind to always be sure they feed us something we want for dinner and spoil us with yummy dessert after! man, the monongahela ward has some really good cooks!! And we always get dessert! It's awesome! :) I love it!

Then on Tuesday, it was the most beautiful day ever!!! It was seriously like 70 outside! and Sister Rock and I were eating it up! So after we did service at the hospital our appointments fell through, so we went tracting, and seriously every door we knocked on someone was home! :) We got to place three books of mormons and talk to a BUNCH of people! It was so awesome! :) I loved it! unfortunately...no investigators came of it, but maybe one day! :) 

Wednesday we got to teach a few different Less-Active and Recent Convert  lessons, and they all went very well! :) Marissa, one of our Recent Convert is soo sweet! She got us some friendship bracelets, so now we all three have matching bracelets! She's awesome! haha! We got to talk to her about the Enduring to the end and address some of her concerns about the Holy Ghost! Oh man! I wish you guys could have seen it, it was sooo funny because while she was talking to us she was talking about how wiggley her chair was, and she went to show us how much it wiggled...and the chair totally broke and she fell off the chair, she laughed so hard, and we laughed so hard! It was hard for us to gain our composure agian! haha it was so funny she shared it with the gospel principles class on Sunday. :) Oh man, it was great! and we got to have a very spiritual lesson about prayer with one of our other Less Actives, and it was really neat because I was able to relate with her on some hard thing that have happened in her life, and she totally opened up like she hadn't before. It was really awesome!  We also got to eat dinner at a Chinese restaurant and they were totally playing country music! That never happens here! I miss country SOOOO MUCH!!! But hey...I'm super lucky and I get to listen to church music all the time! :) that was just a fun little blessing! :) 

Thursday we spend almost all day in Pittsburgh for our Zone Conference! Those are always super awesome and very spiritually uplifting.  We got to train on finding people to teach, which was really good because that is something we're really struggling with right now.  We only have one investigator right now.  But I'm confident as we continue to be diligent we will be able to find people to teach.  Right now it's Lent which is  a Catholic tradition thing? where they give something up for 40 days before Easter...kinda like a 40 day fast, and there are A TON of Catholics in this area! Even though a lot of them aren't active, they still are very strong in their traditions, so it's hard to find people to teach. But there are sooo many fun people we meet here! 

On Friday we got to teach our favorite Sister M. :) She's such a rock star! We love her soo much! We got to read out of the Relief Society Manual  and got to talk about a ton of wonderful things relating to faith and repentance.  She is just so awesome, and every time we go to her house we feel the spirit so strong! :) I love it! Then we got to do some service for our Investigator, we helped her clean her house! :) We love being able to help her with everything! It's so fun! :) 

I've gotta get going! but I love you tons!

Love, 

Sister Thomas

Letter Dated March 10, 2014

Okay...so I super suck at writing you all! I'm sorry! 

So, right now I'm serving in Monongahela North :) and it's so fun! We live really close to the Mon river and it's so fun here! Oh man, every day is a new adventure! :) So, my little baby, Sister Rock, She's a boss! I love her so much! We have soooo much fun all the time! 

This week was really good! :)

So we currently have one investigator, her name is Charen, and she is soooo sweet! Oh my heavens I love her so much! She is our neighbor, and she just is always taking such good care of us, and she just has the biggest heart! She loves everyone and will do anything to help people. Man, I could go on and on forever since I havent filled you in for a while, but for the sake of time....just take my word for it. She rocks! :) I love her so much! 

Anyways we  had a lesson with her this week at a members home..the Martins.  They're our neighbors too! They're seriously the best! I love them so much! but they invited us and charen over for dessert and a lesson, and it was so neat! We had already taught Charen the Restoration of the Gospel, but we felt that she still needed a better understanding of it, and decided to go back and reteach it, but in a way where she wouldn't feel she wasn't learning anything new. So we ended up showing her the DVD of the Restoration and really tying it in to the Book of Mormon and the importance of the Book of Mormon, and it was so awesome to hear the testimonies of the Martin family.  For them to share how much this gospel has blessed their lives, and to talk about their relationships with our Heavenly Father and how it is strengthened through prayer.  The spirit was so strong! Charen has been keeping her commitments and seems to be growing and very curious about the gospel.  I know that this can bring her so much peace and comfort in her life, and I can't wait to see her to continue to progress! :) Funny story, she has 4 children, and her two youngest, Sarah and Dylan (boy) walked us up the hill to our house the other day, and they we're both dressed up in dresses and high heels! I was so impressed with how well they both did walking up the hill...especially dylan..in really high heels..I know I couldn't even do that...but once it was time to go back down the hill..it was a different story. So sister rock and I had to carry Dylan and Sarah back down the  hill to their house because of the rocks on the road.  It was so cute and soooo funny! I couldn't stop laughing! :)

This week we had a lot of less active member work done this week too! Which has been awesome! :) We have this one lady we're teaching, for the sake of keeping her name we'll call her Sister Smenz.  Oh my heavens, I cannot even begin to tell you how much I love her! She is just amazing! She is a convert to the church, has been a temple worker, and a Seminary teacher.  She is just sooo knowledgeable! Sometimes I wonder how much "teaching" I'm doing...because really I think I'm the one that's doing most the learning! She teaches me so much and is always giving insights that I would never even think of.  The spirit is always so strong when we are at her home with her, and we have just become the best of friends! Sister Smenz has had to deal with some hard things in life, but she has the best attitude and is always looking toward the future.  She is just so loving, and the best news is, she came to church this Sunday and sat with us! We were so thrilled! :) It was such a neat experience, and you could see her feel the spirit, and everyone at church was so kind and so happy to see her! It was so amazing! :) 

Oh...ps..I also sang in the ward choir this week....and I suck. They had me and sister rock singing alto...and neither of us knew what we were doing! It was pretty funny! 

Oh man, there is still so much I want to tell you all but not enough time! I promise I'll be better at getting my emails out! just know that everything is great! I love my companion, and I love the people that we're serving! And I love the area! It has been so amazing! I love it! :) and I love all of you! 

Love,

Sister Thomas