Hello family!!

Hello family!!

Sounds like you all had a good week at the Lake Powell! Which I'm

slightly jealous of but the Lord made up for it by allowing us to

teach 19 lessons this week! We had lots of appointments this week, but

still only 2 investigators with baptismal dates but more soon to come

I have no doubt about that!

Oh and first of all I have some exciting news...SISTER JOLLEY AND I

ARE TRAINING!!!...it was super unexpected let me tell you. She's

actually not even here yet but President called us today and said that

she is coming on Wednesday. AND she is coming from the

Philippines!!!:D I am SO excited I can't even begin to tell you!!! It

was so unexpected because we are in the middle of the transfer. And so

her training is going to be kinda thrown off a bit but we are so

excited to have her with us! We were originally suppose to train at

the beginning of this transfer but the new Sister has been waiting for

her visa in the Philippines. Oh and fun fact, I'm pretty sure this

Sister knows Catherine Hansen because Catherine emailed me a few weeks

ago and told me that there was a Sister with her in the Philippines

MTC who was coming to this mission and she told me to look out for

her...and well guess what! I get the opportunity to train her now!

Pictures will come next week for sure. I'm nervous about training a

new missionary but I'm excited about it all at the same time.

Well first of all last week we started having a Book of Mormon class.

We have it in a members home and it is great because we get to invite

our investigators to come! And we all just read and talk about how it

applies to us in our day, it's really a great way to help others to

gain a testimony about The Book of Mormon and its truthfulness. But so

we started it this last week and we had our two most progressing

investigators there. Stephen is 18 and he is great! He pointed out a

lot of scriptures that he liked and we were so glad that he

participated! And we are having it again tonight so we are super

excited about that. And more people will be coming!

We are finding new investigators and always looking for more. We are

just trying to find new ways to find people too. We are also starting

a kickboxing class this coming Saturday because Sister Jolley actually

does kickboxing...while I just look like a goober in the background

haha but that's okay it should be fun!

Well this week was pretty busy and one of my favorite lessons this

week was with a woman named Theresa. We contacted Theresa because some

of her family members requested a bible and so we went to go contact

the referral and met her instead! She invited us back and we were

going to teach her The Restoration but she just had so many questions

that it took up the whole time! But it was awesome! She is great! In

the middle of her lesson one of her friends randomly showed up and

when she saw him she stood up and said "oh no! Don't you dare! Don't

smoke, don't drink, don't drink tea or coffee or anything around these

girls they're Mormon!" Haha I just thought it was so funny but at the

same time I really appreciated that she simply knew what we stood for

and she wanted to be as respectful as possible. And I was grateful for

that.

Then this week we also started teaching a man we met a few weeks ago

from Egypt. He is a very sweet older man who is very lonely because he

doesn't know anyone here. She speaks pretty good English. However we

had to stop teaching him because some differences in cultures and we

felt that his intentions were not in learning more about the gospel so

much as it was the company. But I know he will hear the fullness of

the gospel one day when he is ready. He also invited Sister Jolley and

I to come and visit him at his villa in Giza that has a perfect view

of the pyramids! Hahaha. He is a Christian so maybe one day

missionaries will be called to Egypt and be able to teach him then,

while overlooking the pyramids!

Another lesson that I was looking forward to teaching but actually

fell through was with a man we met named Don. We met Don one day while

we were walking around in Mt. Holly, he was just walking along, happy

as could be when I stopped him and said "Hi!" Very abruptly haha. I

think I scared him a little haha. But he started talking to us and

asked who we were and I plainly told him that we were missionaries.

And he professed to be an atheist and that he didn't believe in God.

But he said he was a happy atheist. He was very kind and respectful

and I asked him if he did believe there was a God and if God had a

plan for him. He said "I don't know, what difference does it make?!" I

told him that it made all the difference and I testified of Gods love

for him. He was very kind and very funny but said that the Jehovah's

Witnesses tried to convert him and give him pamphlets and things but

he would take them and that I probably wasn't going to convert him

either. I gave him a card and he walked away but I felt like I

should've given him a The Plan of Salvation pamphlet. So, I waited for

about 10 minutes until he walked passed us again and I yelled his

name, and he stopped and then I testified again of gods love for him

and Gods plan for him. I asked him if he would be willing to learn

more and he finally cracked and said, "sure why the heck not! Youve

got a pretty *bad word* face anyway!" I didn't know what to say other

than just to laugh and I handed him The Plan of Salvation pamphlet. I

probably would've been creeped out and thought he wanted to learn for

the wrong reasons but then he immediately told me, "You know all my

life whenever someone has tried to talk to me about God, I've just

brushed it aside. So many people have tried to give me pamphlets and

stuff and I never took em'. But you caught my attention, there's

something about you. Besides your little face there's something else

about you. Something that actually touched my heart a little. So yes I

will take your pamphlet and yes you can come share more about this

with me." I was so excited! And honored at the fact that he thought

there was something different and special about me. We were to teach

him yesterday but it fell through but we set it up for next week and

he is looking forward to it! And so are we!

As for the rest of the week it was awesome! Church yesterday was great

and we had quite a few people there at church. Our goal is to fill up

an entire pew of new people! The topic at church this month has been

about The Family. For good reason too. And there were some great talks

given. There was a specific family that spoke yesterday and their

names are the Chapman family. They are awesome! One of their daughter

gave a talk on the Primary song "The Family is of God." One of my

favorite lines from the song is,

"God gave us families to help us become what He wants us to be."

And I love that so much I can't even tell you. In relation to my email

last week I know that the  Gospel of Jesus Christ helps us to become

what we are meant to become. And i have such a strong testimony of the

doctrine of the family. And I testify that it is in our families that

we become what the Lord intends for us to truly be. And I also love

how it is called the Doctrine of the Family. It's an actual Doctrine

of the gospel. And what is doctrine? Doctrine is revealed truth given

of God. We are all part of a God's family, and He has allowed us the

opportunity to create our own families here upon the earth. I honestly

cannot imagine any greater gift than having a family. And that is

something that I am constantly looking forward to, to have my own

eternal family one day. Another thing that Sister Chapman mentioned

was about Adam and Eve. And about how they were sealed together. How

they were married by the Lord and by none else other than the

priesthood power, which binds on earth what is bound in heaven. By

which our families can be together forever. She also taught a simple

truth that I loved, she said

"Every time Heavenly Father gives us a commandment, He always gives us

an example to follow. And here He did that with Adam and Eve. He gave

us an example of what Marriage is and of what order families are

patterned after."

We talked a lot yesterday about the family and I have learned so many

things out here on my mission that I know I want to use with my family

when I come home. Things I want to do to help me be a better wife and

mother someday and things I want to teach my children. I am grateful

and I testify of a loving Father in Heaven and our Elder Brother Jesus

Christ who love us enough to give us families. And to provide the way

whereby our families can be made eternal. I love this gospel and I

know that my purpose as a missionary is to find and teach families, so

that they can be together for eternity.

I love you all so much and will talk to you next week!

xoxo

~Sister Amy Callaway~