Hi!

September 10, 2012
Dear Family,

I just love you all so much! Thank you for your e-mails! They really make me smile!

Well, this week went by pretty fast. It sounds like you have all been pretty busy. President Homer and President Lamunion are being released?! That makes me so sad! Everything is just supposed to stay the same while I am gone! Yes, Spencer, that means that you are going to be stuck as a senior for the next year and a half. :P Just kidding. I would like you to still be alive when I come home.

Let's see. What happened this week? Well, on Saturday we saw a less active member and he told us why he hadn't been to church the previous Sunday. I thought he said that he had the "smoker's flu"? I had never heard of such a thing so I asked him about it. ...there is no such thing as smoker's flu. I still have no idea what he actually said.

Sister Gilbert and I are teaching a part member family. The husband has been trying since before I got here to have the sister missionaries over for dinner so they could teach his wife. We finally had dinner with them on Thursday. His family is so cute! I prayed all week to know what we should share with them. We talked to them about families and shared a Mormon Message with them. Mormon Messages are my favorite! Brother McDonald asked us to come back over after church yesterday. We were able to talk to his wife and she said that she will read the Book of Mormon and we set up a time to visit her again tomorrow. She has expressed to her husband that she doesn't like to feel pressured in the past, and apparently she is kind of feeling pressured now. I hope and pray that the Spirit with soften her heart and that we will know how to teach her.

Last week we had a miracle with our investigator and her husband. A family in our ward invited them and Sister Gilbert and I over for dinner. For the sake of the story we will call her Elizabeth B. No. E. Bennet. Anyway, Elizabeth told us that her husband didn't want to stay, so he would probably leave in about two minutes. He had had dental work done and he didn't feel well. Plus, he knew that we would end up talking about the church, and he is basically against all religions. I don't know how, but he ended up staying the entire time. I don't think they left for another hour after we did. Elizabeth came to church yesterday, which I believe makes either her third or fourth time! :) She is basically amazing! She participates and makes comments in class. She shared with the class how her husband has seen a difference in her since she has been coming and doesn't really make fun of her going anymore. And the fact that he actually makes an effort to say anything to us when we go over there is a big step as well. Elizabeth still has a lot of questions. But she is a miracle. :)

Sister Gilbert and I were in charge of teaching class this week and it went really well. We read out of the first chapter of the Book of Mormon and read 1 Nephi 19:23, about likening the scriptures unto ourselves. When we apply the scriptures to our own lives, we get so much more out of them. The Spirit was really strong. Plus, the members who were there said that they really liked class that night as well. :) Wednesday was just a great day!

I love you all so much! I hope you have a terrific week!!

Love,
  Sister Scott

Happy Labor Day!

September 3, 2012

Dear Family,

  How are y'all? Well, as usual it has been a very busy week. I am so happy that p-day is finally here. I have been looking forward to it since about Tuesday. Yeah. That was last p-day. The pictures that I will send you will explain why.

So once upon a time our ward has a clothes closet for investigators, and anyone else really, to look through if they don't have clothes for church. Well, Sister Gilbert and I found some pants that are relatively big. When I saw them I said, "You know, I bet we could both fit in there." So we tried. And we did! We also found a large shirt for us to wear. There is a scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants 38:27 that says "be one." So Sister Gilbert waited for our ride as "one" this morning. We went to an obstacle course on base and learned some self defense moves. You know, just for fun. :) I am so bruised and sore from the obstacle course, but it means that we got a good work out, right? (p.s. I think the member and the elders thought we were crazy when they came to pick us up. They didn't think we were as funny as we thought we were...)

  I am excited for all of you to be working on missionary work! Members are so important! It is hard to take care of all of the needs of our investigators and make sure that all of them are having spiritual experiences through their church attendance and scripture study. So it is wonderful when our investigators are friends with the members and have someone to sit with at church and someone to read and explain scriptures to them and help them connect with the scriptures. Last week when four of our investigators came it was a little difficult to keep track of them all. I was so grateful for all of the members who stepped up or scooted over to talk to and get to know them. One lady in our ward even invited one of our investigators over for dinner this week. How wonderful is that? The best is when we don't have to ask the members to do it, because that means that it is truly coming from their heart. Yesterday all of the wards in our mission had a fast for missionary work and next week we are having invite Sunday. So hopefully we will get to see a lot of new faces on Sunday! And I am excited to hear about your missionary experiences next week! :) Tell Tyler that if he has nothing to do he can start reading Preach My Gospel and start teaching the lessons to Nick. :) Or he can come out here and be my companion!

  I am still in St. Mary's/Kingsland and Sister Gilbert and I are still companions. Since she is training me we will be together for twelve weeks. I just love her! We are basically the same person. ...not just because we wear the same clothes. Sometimes it is kind of scary how much our thoughts match each other. We are always saying things that the other person was going to say. And in 2 Corinthians 13:1, I believe, it talks about two witnesses proving something is true. Something like that. I don't have my Bible with me at the moment. But that helps me to know that I am on the right track.

  I love reading the scriptures. It seems that whenever I have a concern about anything, I open up my scriptures and the chapters that I read comfort me and answer my questions. I was thinking about how I need to have more faith just this morning and miraculously I am up to Alma 32 in my scripture study. I hope that I can help my investigators to increase their faith by using the analogy of faith being like a seed, as well.

  Our stake has asked us to read the Book of Mormon by General Conference. It means a lot of reading during the "slow" moments of the day, but I am determined to do it.

  Last we went over to Lena's house to get our dinner. She is the Catholic woman who feeds us every week, and I basically love her to death. On our way home we saw a turtle walking across the road. Sister Gilbert has been wanting a picture with a turtle her whole mission, so of course we pulled over. We also saw an armadilllo run across the sidewalk when we got back to our apartment. It was great. I have seen a lot of armadillos on my mission. But this was only the second live one I have seen... I know. Sad.

I love all of you so much!! Thank you for your prayers! I hope you have a great week!

Love,

   Sister Scott

jk...I just found out I can't send pictures on this computer. So they will come next week. Sorry

Pictures of a Two-Month-Old Missionary

August 27, 2012
Dear Family,

This two month old missionary is doing great! We have been teaching a lot of people who are just great! Guess what?! We had four investigators come to church on Sunday! It was absolutely amazing! One of our investigators didn't show up and first and Sister Gilbert and I were pretty sad about it, but then she showed up with her son that we have also been teaching! I am pretty sure I was the smiliest person on the planet that day. Even thinking about it right now is making me happy. :) :) :)
Also, remember that family that Sister Gilbert and I had FHE with? The Elders taught him last Wednesday and he has committed to being baptized in September! I am one happy camper! Probably even happier than Ryan getting a new phone. :)
Plus, our stake is doing a Primary Temple trip and at least two of the investigators signed up to go on Sunday! We won't get to go, but I am super excited for them. There is a Spirit that is felt at the Temple that you just can't feel anywhere else. I am super jealous that all of you got to go to the Brigham City Temple open house. From all of your descriptions it sounds absolutely beautiful.
Sister Gilbert and I fasted last week that we would be able to find new investigators who have been prepared to hear the gospel and be baptized and we found 7 new investigators last week when we have normally only been finding 4. Prayer and fasting works. :)

Love,
Sister Scott