Yesterday was the best P day that I've had here in Bristol! We convinced most of our district to go biking on the creeper trail in Abingdon, Virginia! We biked about 8 miles and stopped and played football for a while and then we biked back to where we rented out bikes. It was so much fun!
This week we have seen so many miracles! Seriously Bristol is the perfect place to be a missionary right now! I can't remember if I've talked about all of the referrals that we've received; the stake set up a booth at a fair and handed out surveys asking if people were interested in learning more about the gospel. We received about 40 referrals! Crazy huh? So we've been trying to track all of these people down. On Tuesday, Sister Brown came with me on exchange and we went to go contact some of these humans. We met Brandon and we taught him the restoration! He is awesome, he prayed to have the guidance to find truth in the Book of Mormon at the close of the lesson it was so cool!
We went to go teach Bobby this last week as well. We had prepared a lesson on the Word of Wisdom but when we showed up Bobby had invited his brother David to join us for the lesson and had already talked a little bit about the restoration with him and they also had watched the "Prophet of the Restoration" DVD together. We were able to teach the restoration to David and Bobby was a great asset to the lesson! It was so cool! They both came to church on Sunday and seemed to enjoy themselves. Bobby is already a missionary! So cool!
We also have started teaching Debbie! She is the mother of Sister Wood in the ward who has recently moved in with them from Washington. She is one of the sweetest people that I have ever met. She has been coming to church but we didn't want to be too pushy since she is still getting settled. When we had dinner at the Wood's house the other night we taught the restoration to her and her grandkids and the spirit prompted us to invite her to take the lessons. She accepted and we have an appointment with her this week! We're so excited!
Last week I talked about Brother Rudy Craft, who came out with us on a team up to see Bobby. He wasn't at Sacrament meeting on Sunday so his family knew something wasn't right. He passed away on at his home Saturday evening. He was so awesome and I am so happy I was able to get to know him. Isn't that awesome though that when he didn't show up for church that was when everyone knew something was wrong? He was so committed and converted to the gospel that he did everything he could to follow Christ. The last thing he did on Saturday before he died was go out with the Elders to contact referrals. On judgement day, God will definitely give him a fist bump, that's for sure.
I'm still enjoying my study of the book Jesus the Christ. To anyone who hasn't read it, READ IT. And if you get stuck on the first few chapters just skip them and bounce around, that's what I did and it is so great. This week I read James E. Talmage's explanation of Matt 18:23-35These verses talk about a parable of a king forgiving servant #1 of his huge unreasonable debt but then the servant #1 not forgiving his servant (servant #2) of his significantly smaller debt. Servant #1 was brought to the king to beg for mercy and forgiveness. We are often brought to our knees to ask God for help, mercy, and forgiveness; we are brought by our trials. As we have these experiences and feel the healing power of God's mercy, we should be more inclined to let go of things we hold against others. When servant #2 is brought to us with debt, we should love them as God loves us and forgive them of their weaknesses. After all, aren't we all weak? I LOVE JESUS THE CHRIST, Y'ALL SHOULD READ IT!
Transfers are on September 10th, so this Saturday we will find out what's happening! I have no idea what's going to happen, I don't know if President will keep people in areas for shorter amounts of time than President Irion did. We'll see!!! I hope I stay! I love it here!!
I have a new motto, well I guess I have just put my attitude into words and made myself a new lil' inspirational quote thing hahaha here it is: "There's a time and a place to be excited to go home, and that time and place is on the plane on the way there. Today is the time to be excited to be a full-time missionary!!" But for real. Being a missionary is exciting because we get to facilitate miracles through the power of the spirit!
Ummm It's my birthday on September 14 so that's be tight! 21 Forever!!!!!!!!!!! I love you humanz! Stay awesome and have a great week!
Love,
Sister Andrea Kate Merrell
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