Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Getting to Know the Ward

May 13, 2013

Dear Family,

It was so good talking to all of you last night! It made me so happy!! I just love you all so much!!! :) I love hearing about what is going on in all of your lives. You are all so talented, and I am proud to be a part of this family. :)

Something that was pretty neat that happened last week. We contacted a couple referrals we had received, and they weren't interested...that wasn't the neat part, but I do feel that we were able to have a friendly conversation with them... As we were leaving their neighborhood I had a pretty good feeling about stopping by a less active/part member family in our ward that lived just a street over from where we were. We parked the car just outside the circle and said a prayer. As we got out of the car and started walking toward the house we saw the husband driving away. Aw drat! I had felt so good about going there. We decided to knock on the door anyway. The dogs barked at us for a few minutes. Then the wife came to the door! Hooray!!! We talked to her for a little while and she said that it made her feel so good that we had stopped by, and that maybe it was a sign. :) She told us a few of her concerns and why she didn't come to church. Hopefully we will be able to help her resolve some of those concerns when we see her again tomorrow.

Yesterday we were asked to teach the lesson in gospel principles. The ward mission leader asked us the night before as we were preparing for bed. So we didn't really have much time to prepare. Luckily it was just a more in-depth lesson on the Restoration. We tried to go off of the little that we had read in the beginning, then I tried reading some parts from the manual, and finally we just went by the Spirit. I felt like the end of the lesson went better than the beginning. We are told that we need to teach people, not lessons. When we focus on the needs of the people in the class more than the bullet points in the lesson, then the Spirit is able to teach and we are all edified. (This doesn't mean don't prepare a lesson. Just also be prepared to follow the promptings of the Spirit.)

I think I'm getting to know the whole ward. It is kind of sad that I have been here for about six months and I still don't know everyone. Each week I feel like we meet with another family that I haven't met yet in the ward. We stopped by a family that I had never heard of last week. The dad was outside in the yard playing baseball with his boys. You already know this is going to be a good family. ;) Plus they have 6 kids! Plus they have two girls and four boys! PLUS they went to Utah State!! When the wife came out she was even wearing her Utah State shirt! We were pretty much instantly friends. :) They have been going to a Catholic church. The wife is a member, the husband is not. The wife went back inside to take care of her baby twins, but we were able to talk to the husband for a little while. He asked us if we had any questions for him. I was caught a little off guard and the first question that came to my mind was how to make mosquito bites less itchy... Sister Graham caught on and asked him something about his beliefs. He had to go in and help get the kids ready for bed, but he told us to come back. I can't wait! :)

Another miracle with meeting someone in our ward... There is a woman in our ward who comes to Relief Society every once in a while. And only Relief Society. She was pointed out to me a couple months ago by a lady in our ward. I have seen her a couple times, but she is always out the door before I can catch her. But she was walking into the building as we were going to Sunday School yesterday. So I caught her and we got to talk to her for a few minutes. She said that we should come by sometime! And she lives in the gated of all gated communities. No one can ever get in there! And we have quite a few less active families in there. We are going to give her a call this weekend and I am so excited! :)

It's true that when you count the blessings or tender mercies you have that you just keep remembering more and more and more. :) I had a pretty great week! The best part was definitely getting to talk to my family. :) :)
I love you! I hope your week is wonderful!!

Love,
Sister Scott

p.s. I will try to send my picture of a manatee next week. ;)
p.p.s. Love you!!!!

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