March 19, 2012

Hey Family!

Wow!!! This week was CRAZY! I have sooooo much to tell you about and I'm not kidding when I say that each day of this week felt like I had a months worth of stories in it. Before I get started though I'll respond to your emails!

St. George sounded fun! I miss it there... we'll have to go when I get home! Tell Grandma and Grandpa I said hello! I miss them too.

Thank you so much for all your mail you've been sending! I love the stories and they really do help. Especially when we teach children! I got to go into Primary for a little bit on sunday for an award that a new convert Ty got, and I couldn't help but think of you and all you do for Primary! You are perfect for that calling because you love the children so much! I didn't realize until I came here how special kids are in helping their parents stay close to our Savior! They play a huge role!

Sounds like this week will be busy for you! I keep you all in my prayers. :)

Dad, Sorry your email didn't come through last week but it was great to hear from you today! Thank you for all your prayers and especially for our investigators! The blessing are coming because of the prayers. I got my driving card last week so I can now officially drive! haha my Companion has been having me drive since I got my card cause she has driven for 2 months straight so she needed a break. We drive a lot, but we will need to start biking a lot too because we only have a certain amount of miles we can use monthly. We have a 2010 Toyota Corolla. :)

OK so about my crazy week!

Monday: We went to NASA which was really cool! We got a VIP tour and got to see all the control rooms and practicing equiptment for the astronauts! I will send pictures. That night we went to our investigator Erica's house... she had been feeling great about her baptism that was set for this coming saturday the 24th, but when we went over there that night she told us she had been talking to one of her "friends" online who is an atheist and they brought all these worries up in her mind. She told us she didn't want to be baptized anymore. And she wouldn't even pray at the end of our lesson. It was like getting hit in the stomach as we left that lesson cause it felt like we couldn't do anything for her.

Tuesday: At district meeting our district leader told us to think about our investigators and what we need to do for them. We immediatly thought of Erica because she is our closest investigator to be baptized. We both had the strongest feeling to move her baptismal date up to Saturday (the 17th) because she had told us the previous saturday that she was so excited and ready, and we knew we could fit the rest of the lessons in that week. So We invited Erica to a dinner appointment with a convert in our ward. Her name is Sister See and she was perfect for Erica's needs. She told her all of her experiences when she was about to be baptized and all the crap she got from her friends. We knew leaving that lesson that we couldn't have done anything more perfect for her.

Tuesday night me and Sister Atterton decided to fast on Wednesday for Erica. Sis. Atterton dropped me off in Houston for exchanges and I got to stay there all of Wednesday so I didn't have ANY updates on Erica and I was praying for her all day long cause I knew that Sis. Atterton was going to meet with her that night for dinner with another convert couple, the Hanks. The Hanks are such a great couple!!

(Really quick about exchanges.... I feel like I went to another world! It was just an hour and a half away from my area but it felt like a different country! There were all black people and they all love Jesus! They love talking about Jesus. Sister Woodland and I got to teach 8-10 boys on a play ground how we pray to Heavenly Father and they all said they pray every single day but they would try praying the way we taught them. They were used to the rehursed prayers. It was cool seeing a different area and learning from Sister Woodland! She is an amazing missionary! She leaves back home in 2 weeks but she was still so driven! I felt like she was dragging me around some of the day. haha But yeah, the exchange was good and I learned a lot! I also felt really strong that I knew I was supposed to be serving where I am now in South Shore.)

So Wednesday night when I got home with Sister Atterton I found out that Erica accepted the baptismal date for the 17th! She said she wouldn't pressure her 10 year old son Ty into it though because she didn't want him to feel pressured like she felt growing up. But Sis. Atterton said the dinner went great!

Thursday: We met with her again and she was questioning again. We had a member with us at that lesson and she called the temple right there and had her name put on the prayer role. Erica had major doubts! And we left again feeling beaten.

Friday: We had to teach her another lesson. She told us both that she wanted us to speak at her baptism!!! I don't think I've ever been more excited to speak in front of people in my life! haha She told us she was ready! The only thing was that when we interviewed her a few things came up so she needed to meet with a member of the Mission presidency. So she said she would commit to meet that night and we told her she HAD to be tehre because President Quinlyn was coming clear from Houston. So we set up the interview. We called her 30 minutes before the interview and she wasn't answering! We were stuck in traffic and trying to get to her house. When we finally got to her house she and her son were both asleep!! Ahhh so we whip them out of bed and got them to the stake center. Erica met with him and it was perfect!! He brought us in afterward and he asked about Ty. She told him how she felt and he said Erica, don't you think its important to make ty go to school even though he doesn't want to? If he got to choose all he did he wouldn't end up in a good spot. Anyways so he talked to her about getting Ty baptized with her and how important it is to lead your kids in the right direction because they don't know better really. When we left she told us that is exactly what she needed. So she told us Ty would be baptized too. Which meant we had 5-6 lessons to teach him in one day! haha

So we decided to move the baptism to Sunday because Ty's birthday was on Saturday and we had a big family history night going on that our district set up. Saturday and Sunday morning we went to teach Ty the rest of the lessons and he wasn't wanting to do it, but his mom told him that she wanted to be with him forever and she wasn't going to leave him behind! So Sunday morning we spent from 10:00 am- 1:00 till church at their house hearing Ty crying and telling his mom he didn't want to be a mormon. Finally we brought a member over that got along with Ty really well and by the Time 6:00 hit for his baptism he was telling me and sister atterton he couldn't wait! He just wanted to do it now!! haha Oh man! I can't tell you how happy I was seeing them baptized! I got sooo close to them and all the stress and worry we had this week was paid off! Erica told us she would never ever forget us and all we did for her, but I can honestly said she probably taught me just as much as we taught her if not more. Her example to her son made me grateful for my parents that had me do things when I didn't want to because they knew it was for my benefit. And now looking back at those things they had me do I am soo grateful! I know Ty will feel the same in a few years!

The baptism was perfect! I can't wait for them to be sealed together forever someday!

I don't have a lot of time, but you probably got an email from a David Gardiner this week about family history stuff! He showed me Grandma Mannings side and when they came from England over to America! It was sooo cool, and it made me excited to get into Family history when I get home. Brother Gardiner is from England and he knew they exact street Henry William Manning lived on before they moved! Cool huh?!

I wish I had more time, but I still have to write President!

I love you all sooo much!!!!!!!

Erianne

P.S. tell Conner Sugrue that Erica is sending one of her friends to church down in Florida! ;) She has already started being a missionary!