August 26, 2011

Earthquakes and Hurricanes of DOOM.

Yes, I am alive. It was a horrific experience to sit through a 5.9 earthquake and live to tell the tale. Yes, many people were running to the store, buying gallons of water, looking for emergency preparedness items, and now thinking that maybe they should treat their families better or have more God in their life. PEOPLE! IT IS A 5.9 EARTHQUAKE....chill. Hahaha. Actually we were on the bus when the earthquake occurred so we didn't feel it but members called us and asked, "Are you ok?!?" Confused as to their concern, I asked, "Yes and how are you?" The way people here described the earthquake it was a 9.5 on the scale. Then to add to the state of New York's terror they had a hurricane for the first time in 20 years. Totally cool for me since I have never been in a hurricane. But keep in mind I am three hours east of New York City where there are lots of trees and fields. We just had a lot of rain and Santa Ana-type winds. Really fun and brought back many nostalgic memories. The Bishop even considered canceling church if nobody showed up but we actually had a great turnout and even had 2 investigators come.

Miracle this week! We were walking and bumped into our former investigator, Norma, who had moved to Pennsylvania. She said that she just moved back since she didn't like it and has been trying to get a hold of us, but lost our number since she got a new phone. So we taught her again and she said that since the earthquake her boyfriend... fiance.... baby's father (so many titles out here) said that he wants to marry her and go to church. So we will see where this all goes. Also, Johnny, our 11-year-old investigator came to church so he will be getting baptized this weekend! We are proud of the progress that he has made. He actually prays in front of us, reads his scriptures, and knows the answers to all of our questions. We came up with a lot of games for the family. His 8-year-old sister is getting baptized too. We are down to daily contact, making sure that everything goes smoothly with his interview, and that the program gets taken care of. Oh and we need to clean the font... it is gross.

That is pretty much life for us right now. We are also working with some less actives who will no longer be less active soon! We are helping get a family to the temple. They are an awesome family. We think they went inactive without realizing it; then realized when we kept trying to get a hold of them that they had missed church for 4 months. They have been faithfully coming every week since.

I have been studying the life and mission of our Savior lately and it has caused me to reflect a lot on the role He has on our lives. To see people change and improve is such a testimony to me that He lives. For if He were still dead, He wouldn't not be able to influence people in such a way. The influence of the Holy Ghost can lead those honestly seeking back on the path of blessings and purpose, back to where we are supposed to be. Now just get on it! Anyway love you all, until next week!