Dear Family,
Another week has gone by, and now we are at the last week of the
transfer. I'm not quite sure how this happens...I have been in Bartlett
for almost 12 weeks now. It seems to have flown by. I really like
this area because of the members and the people
I know. Also, Sister Bridgewater keeps me pretty entertained. She has
supplied most of my mission quotes that will be really funny to read in
a few years. Well, they are funny now too. She's just funny. It
hasn't been too wet or cold here, although some
people disagree. I then tell them they are kinda whussy. Well not
really, but it's not cold to me.
We had a pretty uneventful Halloween..but it was still fun. It was
funner than 4th of July was. 4th of July was actually kinda
lame..compared to our awesome celebrations we have at home. But on
Halloween we got to see Sammy and her girls Abbi and Lauren
when they were dressing up for trick or treating. Abbi was a kitty cat
and Lauren was an angel. Very cute. I love them so much-I think they
are the reason I came to Bartlett. I hope all of you can meet Sammy
someday..she's pretty cool. Valerie, and anyone
else who is a Nightmare before Christmas fan might be interested to
know that Sis B made a Nightmare before Christmas christmas tree! It's
super cool. The tree has cobwebs and little pumpkins and something else
on the top. I'll send you a picture because
I don't know what it is called.
Cool story. We went out teaching with a member named Andrea last
week. I really really like her. You know those people you meet and you
think "man, I'm so glad I met this person. I wonder how I lived my
whole life without knowing them". We went to
see this investigator who is slightly obsessed with Donny Osmond. Have
I told you this yet? Well, he is going to be the key to her
conversion. We went to her house, but she acted like she was too busy
and she wouldn't invite us in. Then Sis B was quick
and said, "Oh, you still have to show us that picture you have of when
you met Donny Osmond!" Yep. Got in the house. From there we ended up
having a conversation about coming closer to God and the Book of
Mormon. The lady said that she had been having a
really rough few weeks and felt like God pushed us to her house. I was
excited to hear that.
I have recently found out that Valerie (my dear investigator from
Hot Springs), since her baptism last month, has been doing extremely
well. She is now a great missionary, goes out and teaches with the
sisters there, and now her sister, her sister's husband,
and her daughter are all getting baptized. Wow, that makes me so
happy. Can you believe it? All because she wanted to know about Mitt
Romney. She is the coolest. Also, Brother Bledsoe is doing so well
too. I called Sis Gladden the other day to give her
a phone number, and she happened to be with Bro Bledsoe at the time.
She asked me if I wanted to talk to a very special person. When she
handed him the phone, I said, "Is this Brother Bledsoe?" And he
couldn't speak for a few seconds. He finally said that
he was overwhelmed to hear my voice. We both got emotional..what a
sweet man. He is getting the Melchezidek priesthood soon. Okay I know I
spelled that word wrong, don't judge me. I'm trying to hurry before
the computer at the library kicks me off. He
has also finished reading the Book of Mormon and is on to the D&C.
Hooray!
Do you remember Stephanie? The lady who got baptized last week?
Well now we are teaching her sister, LaTosha. She is a trip! Haha.
Since the first day she met us, she decided to give us nicknames. Sis B
is now redhead and I am smiley. :) Funny
lady. Oh, something else about Sam and Steve. Lauren, their kid who
is 6, is a really good reader. She is in advanced programs at school.
Well the other day I asked Steve if he had been reading the Book of
Mormon. He said "Yeah." Surprised, I said, "really??".
"Well, no, but yeah. The other day I sat Lauren down and had her read
the Book of Mormon to me". I sure hope that his 6 year old doesn't read
better than he does. That would just be sad.
So we have the best district ever this transfer! I hope nobody
moves next week, because I love all of the missionaries we are with
right now. Our district leader is the best I've ever had. And get
this. We have had 4 baptisms in the last 9 days! Each
of the 3 companionships have baptized. Pretty cool. Speaking of
baptisms, I got the opportunity to go to the baptism of a little girl in
the ward named Ruby. We worked our tails off to get investigators to
come with us, but they all bailed. It was a really
nice baptism. I felt the spirit witnessing that it is a true
ordinance. The sweetest part was that Ruby requested that I should say
the closing prayer. This really touched me because I haven't even
talked to her that much. I felt special that she wanted
us there and that I got to say the closing prayer.
We also had stake conference yesterday. It was good. What I liked
most is that a member of the 70, Elder Giddons I think, told a story
about how his wife prayed every day of her son's mission that nothing
would happen to his grandparents while he was
gone, so he could see them again. The grandparents ended up getting in
a car accident, and died. She wondered if she didn't have enough faith
to receive what she was praying for. But then she realized that her
faith needed to be in Jesus Christ and his
atonement. When we do that, our perspective changes, and even the
things we pray for can change. It reminds me of the words to the hymn
"O Savior Thou who Wearest a Crown" when it says, "no fear of death
alarm us, We live O Lord through Thee". I know this
is true.
I love you all, and hope you have a wonderful and fulfilling week
as you remember your blessings and the love that surrounds you.
love sister annalisa wilde
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