Aug. 2, 2010

Dear Family,

I'm sorry to hear that you're having PC troubles. I understand that the "Pamiloma Virus" has struck again. *grin* No worries about no email from mom this week. I totally understand. And it means that I'll probably get a handwritten letter instead, which makes me happy!

This week has been really tough, honestly. We had six or seven appointments to teach investigators, and not a single one of them actually happened. So we spent a lot of time knocking on doors, instead. We found a new potiential investigator on Saturday, named Terilynn, who is 17. She's got questions about why there are so many different churches -- score! -- and why her church (catholicism) can't really explain "god" -- score again!! -- so we're going to start teaching her this week. Which is super exciting. We also went through our area book and found two former investigators, a married couple, the Crowders, who were dropped for an unknown reason. We went to see them and visited for a long time. When we asked why they're not members, the husband, Bill, said right off, "I'm Presbyterian", which means to us, that we'll have to show him the importance of the priesthood. The wife thought about it for a minute and said, "I'm not sure why I'm not a member" -- triple score!!! --

So even though the week was a tough one for our regular investigators, it turned out to be good because we've found some new people to teach, and had a little time to clean our Area Book (it's a mess!)

To update you on Lewis: He's kind of fallen off the radar. He canceled both our lessons this week and hasn't come to church for two weeks now. I know he's still wanting to be baptized... he's just having a hard time prioritizing. His new job is really taking a lot of his time, and he's not used to a set schedule. He hasn't worked for two years, so he's not used to getting 8 or less hours of sleep at night, with no naps during the day. I get it. It's just frustrating for us, when we know that the things we can teach him will help his life to be better, but he doesn't want to make the effort.

Pupe was a lot the same this week. Her sister is getting married in two weeks, so she's not really keeping us at top priority either. She also canceled both our lessons this week, and didn't come to church, like she said she would. Neither did her husband, which was a bumnmer. But, we do have good news. There's a branch in the Sacramento Mission in Sacramento (about 20 minutes from here) that's all Laotian (a country that borders Thailand). We got the phone number of the Elders that are serving there and we called them to ask if any of the members in that branch would be willing to come meet Pupe. They've contacted two or three members, and we're just waiting to find out which of them wants to come, and what the best day will be. Then we'll be able to have Pupe meet with someone else who has converted from Buddhism! Plus! One of our ward members here has a book about a Thai Buddhist Monk who converted to our religion, then went on a mission, and later served as a mission president. She emailed Deseret Book about the author, and they sent her his phone number, which we now have. :) He lives in Utah now. We're going to contact him and see if he'd be willing to talk to Pupe as well. So things should pick up as soon as the wedding is over.

That's pretty much it for this week. Next week's email should be tons better, since we'll actually teach some lessons!! YAY!!

As always, I love you all so much, and I'm sooo grateful for all your support!

Love, Sister Reid