Life! Life life life! As they always say, the days are weeks and the weeks are days.

Right now our primary investigators are the following:

Renee: A lovely black woman with more faith than I've seen in most of the church. She is so wonderful and teaches me something every time we speak with her. She loves having us over and has invited her 8 year old granddaughter and fiancé to both listen in on our lessons. She is eager to learn and very open to everything we tell her. She suffers from MS and has had some incredible trials in her life, but she is so willing to trust in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We have high hopes for her.

Dawn: A cute older white lady who struggles a little with self worth, but before we even brought up the Word of Wisdom decided she wanted to quit smoking. She is doing amazingly well and is such a sweet spirit. She is willing to learn and loves our lessons, but I've only had the opportunity to meet with her once. She just had hip surgery and has been out of commission for a while.

Carla and Skyler are the two most golden investigators you could ask for. They called us and told us they wanted to be baptized! Carla's sister was baptized last year and so she and her boyfriend, Skyler, have been coming to church for the past two months. They've seen the happiness here and have that desire to change. They are a delight to teach and I look forward to future lessons with them. (we've only taught them once so far). I can just see the faith in them grow.

Erika: Erika is amazing. She's a young southern belle and just barely got engaged to her Mormon boyfriend. I just taught her today and she is wonderful. She asks questions, she thinks logically, but she has such a faith. Her mother has opposed her decision, but there is nothing she wants more than to be sealed to her fiancé for eternity. In this last lesson she set a date for baptism and we are so excited for her! She said that this faith is worth defending. I am in awe in the face of the faith of our investigators.

The work goes well here. Wilson is informally referred to as the land of miracles. It is one of the most convert rich areas in the mission.

However, right now we are focusing on strengthening the ward. The ward is amazing and relatively receptive to missionaries (we get fed at least 3 to 4 times a week. This next week is every night!) but we want to help them realize that what they have is for everyone. There is nothing more important than member referrals. I can just see how much better Erika has gotten on with her boyfriend (now fiancé) strong in the gospel. It seems so fruitless to try and contact randomly to invite people to see what they have never experienced. It is the problem of the church that we don't see the impact we can have until we are in the midst of a different part of life. Just like when I was RS president of my YSA ward, I finally comprehended the importance of visiting teaching. And now as a missionary I comprehend the integral nature of member missionary work. Without members we are just knocking on doors hoping to find "goldens".

So that is what we want to emphasize in this area, sharing the happiness that I can see in the ward, that EVERYONE can see in the ward with all those people they know, who might be content in their lives, but who could have so much more.

The church is true. This gospel is true. Share it.

To end with a funny story:
I went tracting for the first time. My first "take the lead" door was a Jehovah's witness. Oh the irony.

With Love,

Hermana Fletcher

Sister Cahoon and I. Being Misioneras Bonitas!