Tuesday, July 30, 2013

07/29/13-Week 25 in Indiana [Week 2 of Transfer 5] "This Week-Miracles!! *Faith*

Helllllllllooooooooo.

My apologies for last weeks email. I pushed send when I literally had 1 second left. So...the ending was a bit crazy because I didn't have a lot of time to re-read or anything. I only have about 15 minutes to write this email, so lets get down to business!

This week at church was amazing again!! We had 8 less-actives to church :) It was so wonderful. I spent a lot of time in Indianapolis trying to get people to come back to church, and I did not have much success, but here, we are seeing success from the time and effort we put into meeting with people. I have learned the importance of being bold with people. As a missionary, and as people in general, it really does no good to beat around the bush. When we go to people's homes who haven't gone to church in years, they obviously know why we are there....so we just tell them! Hey, why haven't you been at church?! Okay, not that harsh, but in the same sense.....someone has to eventually ask. And we have seen some real miracles come of it. Sister Davis came again this week and it was great!! Sister Lloyd came teaching with us this past week to her house, and they got along soo well! They just clicked automatically (but the sad thing is that Sister Lloyd moves this Friday....to Arizona........) Sister Davis hasn't gone to church since she was....15 or 16 and was only a member for 3 or 4 years. So, when we had the lesson on the Word of Wisdom in Sunday school, Sister Colton and I were biting our tongues. But, she took it so well!! She was very open and receptive to it. The spirit is a miracle worker, I am telling you. She wants to get her 3 sons into church too. She has a 18, 16, and 14 year old. We are hoping to get them involved in Young Mens and help them get some good friends. She is just on a roll!! I am so happy about it. :D


The spiders here are ridiculous. Sister Colton and I have killed our fair share of spiders. But there was a funny story with one this last week that I didn't get a chance to write about. We have spiders who are currently living in the side mirrors of our car. Mine's name is Charolette, Sister Colton's is Hank. Now, there is a story being Charolette's name. 
   
Sister Colton and I were laying in bed one night talking about our neighbor. You see, that night, after getting in, we were trying to destroy the spider webs on the side of our cars. We were attacking them with our water bottles and using all of our "master spider-killing" skills to get rid of them. We prodeeded to do so for a good.....3 or 4 minutes. As we walked up to our house, our cute old neighbor, Art, walked out with a container of cantaloupe (they always give us food) and said "have a spider??" We said...."yes..." (realizing that he was watching us the whole time as we were attacking our car. Hahaha! Apparently, it is a normal thing here in Indiana to have spiders living in your mirrors. So great. :D

But, we found some new investigators this week! Shelby is married to Casey, who is a less-active. They recently got married in June and we have been trying to meet with them for a good 2 months now. But they have been cancelling and rescheduling with us the whole time. Well, last week, we finally got to talk with her! We sat down and just asked her what she expected with the missionaries coming to talk with her. Just getting some basic background. Eventually the conversation lead to families and to eternal families. We talked with her about the nature of God (she was raised Catholic) and about how we have a Heavenly Mother. The spirit was sooo strong in the room! I bore my testimony about how I knew that we not only have a Father in Heaven, but we also have a loving Mother, who cares about us all. The spirit testified so strongly. We told her about the temple and how she and Casey can go and get sealed. It was just a beautiful lesson! I wish I had time to go into all of it. It was a lesson completely guided by the spirit. We went in there expecting to teach her something completely different, and ended up coming out with a new investigator. It was a miracle!

This week, Sister Colton and I experienced a miracle with our numbers...I guess you could say. Sister Colton and I put forth a lot of faith in setting our goals last week, and we didn't know if it was possible to reach them. But with faith, we met our goals and exceeded many of them. I know that as we rely on faith and work our hardest, no matter how impossible it seems, the Lord will always provide a way. He is on our side. As we are doing all that he has asked us to, he will never leave us alone.

He loves all of us! He watches out for us. I am so grateful to him for everything.


I don't have any more time. I love you all!! Thank you for all you do!!

Sister Farr

07/24/13-Week 24 in Indiana [Week 1 of Transfer 5]

Hello all!

Yes, we have started a NEW transfer! Wahoo. I know I didn't really tell you about that, because I figured we were staying. And we are not!! We are getting split up!! Weird right? Just kidding!! (<-makes me think of Jess) We are staying. I know, you were surprised for just a second. But no, we are staying here in Huntington in our cute little yellow house.

This week has been crazy! I bet that you are wondering why I did not email you on Monday, and I bet it just ruined your whole day not to hear from me. Just Kidding again (<-Jess). But it was sure long for me to chug through these past few days! But since Transfers is tomorrow, they changed preparation day to Wednesday this week. So, no I did not die, (well...maybe kind of, but not literally) I am doing well! My random health things have gotten much better this past week. I am very grateful for the prayers that you have said and the support you have given me, I am doing much better!

So, first of all, it has been great! Sister Colton and I have been praying a lot recently for the Lord to help us find someone who we could baptize in this next transfer, and he surely has. Saranna has been given a baptismal date of August 23rd! She will hopefully bet getting baptized with her brother, Jeremiah. It will be wonderful! We are very excited. Speaking of their family, we have had some wonderful fellowshippers! We invited Sister Miller to come teach them with us this past week, and she willingly came. But when we got there, they were running around like crazy because they had a house inspection. So, they asked us if we could clean. Sister Miller was sooo open to just cleaning the house! She stayed there with us for 2 hours and cleaned and taught a lesson with us. Then, when we said we had to go after the lesson, she got up and said "Well Saranna, lets go and finish your room!!" and went back and still kept cleaning. We don't' know how long she stayed, but we know that she helped them sooo much! She is wonderful. Also, Sister Bair helped us so much. We were trying to get a member to go with us all day, and no one could. Then, last minute Sister Bair texted us and offered to come. We went to give Susan a lesson about Enduring to the End, but after talking with Susan a little bit about her finances, Sister Bair suggested to us that we teach her about Tithing instead. So, according to the spirit, we taught Susan about the law of tithing. Sister Bair was perfect for that lesson! It was something that she struggled with when she was becoming re-activated and she could bear a very strong testimony! It was wonderful. The Lord knew that we were going to be teaching another lesson that night, and he knew that Sister Bair needed to be the member to come with us. There is always a reason for everything!

Also, we did service last week at a less-actives couples house. We were outside in the HOTT (104 degrees) weather painting their deck and stapling chicken wire up around it. Let me tell you, it was HOTT! It reminded me of Stadium of Fire when you are just hot and miserable and soaked from head to toe...yeah...it was crazy. Except, no one was coming around with sprayers to cool you off. Not so fun. But at the same time, we had a blast! We ended up talking with them at the end for a spiritual thought, and we found out that the brother doesn't have much of a testimony of the Book of Mormon at all. He just joined the church for the politics. It was really heart breaking for us. I could literally feel the sorrow of the Savior in my heart. To the point that I started to cry as I bore my testimony to him. It was a hard moment for me and the Savior as he expressed his great desire for him to come unto Him. But we will work with him to resolve all of his concerns and get him back to church.

But! Church this week was GREAT! We had 7 less active members there (the Ahrens, the Minches, Sister Lloyd, Sister Rydell, and Sister Davis), who we have been working with and 5 investigators! SO great!


Thank you for all of your prayers and concern again! I love you all!!!!
 
Love, Sister Farr

Monday, July 15, 2013

07/15/13-Week 23 in Indiana [Week 6 of Transfer 4]

Hi there.
It has been a wonderful week here in Huntington, Indiana! It started out with a grand opening of a zone training!!! It was an amazing zone training. Our Zone Leaders trained us on how to have more joy in the work. And to be honest...I have been struggling with that. It is hard to be a missionary! It is hard to feel successful when you aren't seeing many fruits from your labor, but they talked about how we can find more joy. When we walk down the street, we want people to notice how happy we are! We don't want to be fake happy, but genuinely happy. They mentioned something... being happy can just be for a short time, but JOY is eternal happiness. They talked about the difference between changing your personality and changing your habits. Everyone has a personality, they were born with it. Since we were babies we have had our personality. But we have created habits that have been interwoven with our personality. I don't have to change my quiet personality..I just have to change my habit of never talking. It has been a real eye opener for me. Whenever people would say "just be yourself!" I would say "You don't understand! Being myself and being a missionary.....are complete opposites! I can't be a missionary and be myself." But I have learned more of how I can be myself and be a missionary. I am working to change my habits. I am trying to change the habits that pull me away from Christ, and making them more like the Savior.
Something funny about Indiana....don't try to use hairspray to hold back your fly-aways..the hairspray is just flimsy. It doesn't get stiff like it does in Utah. It does...really nothing. haha. Also, some other funny news. Sister Colton and I have been living without AC for the past 5 weeks!!! We thought that we had the window air conditioner on "cold" and it has not been working. It has been just blowing around hot air. So we have been dying in the humidity! But this week when it got to the point where we didn't know we could stand it any longer, we went to the temperature knob and....vuwala....it turned! And it made the air cold....so we have been living in a few days of bliss :) Air Conditioning is such a wonderful blessing!
Lets see...Sister Kewish and Saranna have been doing well! I don't know if I have told all of you about them before. Sister Kewish and Saranna have been investigating the church for a little over a year. They have had a year filled with challenges beyond what I can even imagine. The trials they face would have tore me to the ground. But they are coming out strong! We have been teaching them every single day. Lifting their spirits. We have been able to see the light come back into their eyes! The spirit is once again in their home. It brings Sister Kewish to tears when she talks about how much she is grateful for the gospel in her life. It has changed her. She has been trying to overcome smoking for the past couple of months and has been having a rough time. We challenged her to now only smoke outside. And it has been helping! They are both progressing wonderfully! They understand the gospel of Jesus Christ. We talked about Baptism and what it means and how important it is. And they are just so ready and excited to be baptized. It will be a moment in their life that they will never forget! Their ultimate goal is to go to the temple and be sealed as a family. Sister Kewish's husband died a few years ago, and she wants to seal her and Saranna to him. That is the ultimate goal! Bringing families together for eternity! The work of Salvation is wonderful.

Yesterday, Sister Colton and I were able to witness some wonderful miracles.  Saranna had been sick for quite a while. She wasn't able to hold down any food nor liquid. Sister Kewish was getting worried and asked us to pray for her. We went over after church and asked if they wanted us to ask the Elders in our ward (Elder Price and Callister) to come over to give her a blessing, and she said yes. We called the Elders (and another member of the congregation) to come over and give her a blessing. As they did so, I felt the power of the Priesthood flood into the room. The spirit was so strong! Although she did not immediately stand up and act completely fine, she was able to eat some food and slowly heal. I know that the power of the priesthood is real. It is the power of God on the earth today. It is here for our benefit. We should never be afraid or hesitant to ask for a blessing. God will never reject us from obtaining the blessings of the priesthood if we merely ask. I just love this gospel!
My body has recently started to fight back against the stress level of missionary work! I have been having some problems with my ankles. As I mentioned last week, our mission president asked us to run for 30 minutes every day. Before, when Sister Colton and I were running just a mile every other day, I started to have some bruises appear on my ankles. My ankle bone hurt and shot pains up my calves. Unsure what it was, I prayed for strength and kept running. This past week, it has really started to act up. It started to swell. I evetually called Sister Porter and asked her what to do. She told me to wear a brace and take tylenol for the swelling for a couple of weeks. Then yesterday, I asked for a blessing. The Elders gave me a blessing and promised me that as I was obedient to the rules of the mission, that my ankles would heal themselves. They promised me that Heavenly Father was aware of my problems. He knew what I was facing and he would help me. I have not been full on running for a couple of days, but I have been walking as fast as I can. I know that as I continue to do my best, Heavenly Father will bless me. That is the miracle about obedience. When you are obedient, no matter how impossible it seems, the Lord will always bless you! Sometimes the rules we are given seem pointless and ridiculous, but there is always a reason behind it. Our Heavenly Father never asks us to do something without promising us a blessing. He will always provide. I think of it like this: If Jesus Christ leads you to a cliff and asks you to jump off, he will either catch you at the bottom, or teach you how to fly. We just have to take that first step, and jump! He will do the rest. He will catch us. He will teach us how to soar above our greatest expectations.
Do you remember Mary? The one we helped pick things up in her yard after the tornado?? Well, this week she became an investigator!! She has been reading the Book of Mormon and had a lot of questions! She was really confused about when the Book of Mormon started. We went over there last night and talked to her about what it was. She had questions all about the Plan of Salvation. She asked questions about the Restoration. like "How do you know which church is true?" "Where did God come from?" "Where did we come from?" "Why does the Bible only talk about the people in Jerusalem?" Question after Question...she has been prepared to receive the gospel! Even if she doesn't get baptized in the next month or so, she has been slowly prepared for quite some time!
---My computer died...and I lost half of my email. I had lots of juicy info..but I don't have time to re-type it all :( Soo.....---
Basically, Elizabeth said yes to baptism if she came to know it was true!! Horray! I found out some cool news from Sister Cordner this week!! The Elders in the Indy 1st ward looked up Eddie (HQ referral I taught in the library who was doing a project on the LDS faith and had questions about Tithing and Fast offerings and stuff. I had asked him if I could share my testimony at the end and he said "sure." then he told me that my body language told him that I really believed what I said) and they talked with him. He said that he is doing another project on the Book of Mormon so he has more questions, but he said that he remembered my testimony and that it really shook him up, in a good way! Cool huh! It made me feel good :) At least I did something right! The spirit is so key. I know that it wasn't me that softened his heart. It was purely the spirit. All I did was testify of truths, and his spirit was touched. It was a cool experience for me, and it is cool that it left an impact on him.
:)
Also, the package that I got this week was WONDERFUL!!! Thank you dearly :) We ate the cookies right up and may have gained 20 pounds.... it's okay though. But.....Sister Colton and I would love to get some.......letters. We excitedly run to check the mail each day and have been finding lots of cob webs...not very many letters...

I love you all!!! :) I am sorry that I don't have very much time. 

Here is another picture of my fast growing hair! 
 
And of the corn here...it is so tall!
I send you my love,

Sister Farr

07/08/13-Week 22 in Indiana! [Week 5 of Transfer 4]

Hello there. 
This week has been...pretty great! But yes, desolate. Since it was the fourth of July weekend, everyone was gone! I can't tell you how many doors we knocked on to find no one there. It was kind of ridiculous. It was one of those weekends where you wished you could just stay inside and watch a movie and eat some ice cream...but ya know, we just pushed through it and now the work will move forward again!!


It was realllly weird not dancing in the Stadium of Fire this year. On the 3rd and 4th I kept thinking randomly "I am usually dancing right now..." or "I bet they are standing in the portals right now...." I guess I always knew that one day I wouldn't do it...but I have since I was 7! They had to ship me off to Indiana to get me to stop! ;) But! My mission president is making up for that loss of exercise......Our mission president came out with a new rule for us.....we have to run for 30 minutes every morning. Not just exercise...........run. Really?? Oh man. It kills. I am not a runner, and now I have to run or I am being disobedient. It is taking a lot of faith on my part to actually do it. I have done it every day and I will for the next year and a couple of weeks...until I am off of my mission. Hopefully I will come to enjoy it one day. But I better not gain weight now! I mean...I am running.....for 30 minutes....and I want to kill over and die after. hahaha. Ask me to dance for 10 hours straight? Sure! Ask me to run for 30 minutes....uh....heart attack. But I did have a pretty cool experience with it! You see, Sister Colton and I have been running a mile every other day for the past month and I have been getting bruises on my ankles from it. After we have run the mile, my ankles are sore and achy all morning until I put some Deep Blue Rub on it (I love DoTerra..:D). So, when I learned that we had to run for 30 minutes, I had my doubts about my ankles. The first day we did it, my ankles and feet started to hurt pretty bad, but I said a prayer as we ran. I asked Heavenly Father for his help. I was trying to be obedient to all that our mission president has asked of us, but I know that my feet and ankles are not physically capable of it...but I knew that through the Atonement of Christ, all things are possible. Since that prayer, I haven't had any problems with my ankles. The bruises are still there, but they don't throb. It has taught me a lesson of obedience. When the prophet or our Heavenly Father asks us to do something..and we think that we are an exception to the rule..we have to realize that we aren't. We must be obedient in all things. 

We are blessed when we are exactly obedient. 
 
I was able to meet President and Sister Porter this week! It was pretty great! He said something that I thought was very profound that one of the 12 apostles said to them when they were in the MTC. "The movement of this missionary work is just as impactful as the first vision, the Book of Mormon, and the Priesthood being restored..." or at least something to that effect. Holy cow...just think about that! This missionary push is just as impactful on the church as the restoration of the priesthood." He called it the Class of 2013. That is incredible. All of us must find those brothers and sisters who do not have the gospel! It is our responsibilities as members of the church. But we can't do it alone! Not without the help of our Father in Heaven, Jesus Christ, or the Holy Ghost. People NEED the gospel. We have to bring them closer to Christ in all that we do. It is very intimidating to look at in the face, but taking it day by day, I can do this. 


Jeremiah...... I told you last week about our investigator who pretty much knew the Plan of Salvation and loved the Book of Mormon. Well, this week he told us that he would consider himself a "Mormon" in belief terms because we go back even before Christ. But he still wants to get baptized in his father's church because his father is his hero. Noo..Jeremiah! You don't understand! What will make him more proud is for you to seal your family together for eternity! We tried to explain the priesthood to him, but he didn't quite understand it. But, he is gone on business for a month or so. Hopefully something will sink in as he is driving the diesel truck around. He just needs the gospel! Well, everyone needs the gospel! But it is so hard when you come so far and you know that they know it is true, but they won't change. :/
 
I had the BEST dinner appointment at the Zumbrun's home this week! They have 12 kids in their family and we pretty much had a buffet for dinner. Sister Colton and I have gained 5 shadows at church from that... Sister Colton and I were the first people to get our food...and the last people to finish our meal because they were asking us sooo many questions! They were asking us "why....why...why" and "As a missionary can you.....what about this?....." It was sooo adorable! I just LOVE children. It was my favorite. They followed us around everywhere and asked us question after question.


Elizabeth is doing great! We were starting to teach her more of the Plan of Salvation this past week when she asked us "how do you know which church is the right church?".....does that sound like Joseph Smith to you? Because it sure did to us! So, we changed our lesson to the Restoration and told her all about Joseph Smith and how he had the same exact question! It was so amazing! She soaked it all in and said that she would pray and read about the Book of Mormon. The spirit is just amazing. I love this work! The spiritual rush that you get when you teach someone or bring them the gospel, is something that you can't describe.

This week I had some really cool experiences with my Patriarchal blessing. I have been feeling as though I don't matter in this work. I have felt like no one would notice if I weren't hear. So I went to the Lord and I read the personal revelation that is held in my Patriarchal Blessing. I read it with the question of "What is my purpose/calling in this life?" I found it. We all have callings. We all have specific talents and gifts to help us fulfill that calling. More than anything I want to make my Father in Heaven proud and the way that we can do that is by obeying Him. He loves us beyond comprehension. All he wants is for us and alll of our brothers and sisters to return to Him once more. We are all children of God. Every single person you talk with, see, drive by, everyone. Is a child of God and has the potential to become like Him. But if we don't open our mouth and share that with them, they will never know. Don't be afraid to share the gospel! Share it with your friends and families. This is the last time that the Lord is calling his servants into the Vineyard and we better take care of it. If I can do it, anyone can do it. But it is all through the Lord. I cannot do this by myself. I would have come home by now if it weren't for my Savior, Jesus Christ and the Spirit. He will help us. We are doing His work, after all.
I know what you are thinking. 'I am not a missionary'....but you are a child of God. And we must help our other brothers and sisters know that they are too. 
I am out of time! I am doing well. I am pushing forward. and as always, I love you all!!

Sister Emilee Farr

Monday, July 1, 2013

07/01/13-Week 21 [Week 4 of Transfer 4] "Ohio, Cincinnati!! Here I...am? Yes!"

Hello friends and family!!

Today 2 zones in the Indiana Mission have received a commandment from the Lord - D&C 38:32. He has called us to Ohio where we will be "endowed with power". (hahaha..our Zone Leaders sent us that in a funny voice mail this morning). Starting today, July 1st I am now in the Ohio Cincinnati mission with President and Sister Porter from Morgan, UT (AKA Alyson Porter's parents) as my mission president and wife! Crazy. I know. I am very excited though! It will be great. Now I get to serve in 2 missions and 2 states. I feel kind of special. Not really. I am just tired today, and a little bit loopy.

This week has been great!! We had a great follow up lesson with Jeremiah! He is the investigator who really liked the Book of Mormon because he is part Indian. We came back to his house and we talked to him as he was cooking dinner. It was a very different kind of lesson, but the spirit kept saying "Teach People, Not Lessons." We planned to go into his home and sit down with his family and teach them about the restoration, but as we chatted with him in his kitchen, we decided that what he really needed was the Plan of Salvation. We asked him about who he thought God was and his conception of Jesus Christ. He started to tell us some really cool thoughts that he had....that actually lined right up with our deeper doctrine. He mentioned that he thought that God must have walked the earth and lived on earth or something so that he knew what we would experience. He said "God wouldn't just throw us into a world where he didn't know anything about. It would be like me, making this spaghetti sauce and throwing some stuff in it and then feeding it to my family without even tasting it!" We talked to him about where we thought God came from and he totally agreed! He said "that makes a LOT of sense!" He even mentioned how he thought that there must be other galaxies and universes who have other planets just like ours who have their own Gods...it was crazy. I am telling you. We asked him, "So, what do you think the purpose of life is?" He said "Well, to be tested and tried, to find my family and loved ones, and prepare myself to return to God." Umm...are you sure you aren't a Mormon?? Because that is exactly what we teach! Plus the fact of gaining a body. It was incredible. Sister Colton and I were just standing there getting our minds blown as he talked with us. Never have I had an investigator say anything like that. It was amazing! We are teaching him again on Thursday, and we invited his wife and family to join us. Oh so great!!!!

We found a really cool new investigator this week. Her name is Elizabeth. She has a 2 year old son who had a heart transplant at 1 week old. She has had a lot of challenges in her family life, but still stayed strong. But how we found her was really cool. We had planned to tract a street named Briant, but we didn't 'feel' right about it. So we prayed and asked Heavenly Father to help us to know where we were supposed to be. I started looking through my planner and Sister Colton pulled out the ward roster. The name Davisson stuck out to me, but not the people who I had down (there are tons of Davissons in the ward). Then Sister Colton said "Amber Davisson?" I said "Yes!" That felt right. So we went over to her house, but no one was there. So we decided 'well, God sent us here for a reason..' and started to walk around looking for people outside. I said a silent prayer to Heavenly Father asking him to help me know who he has who is prepared here. I asked him if he would help them to go outside so that I would know. As we turned the corner, we saw Elizabeth sitting outside on her porch swing. My heart skipped! Horray! She is prepared! Heavenly Father answered my prayers. We went over and immediately Sister Colton and I thought that we needed to talk about the Family Proclamation, so we did. We talked about Eternal Families and how the Gospel blesses families. We gave her a pamphlet and have a return appointment tonight! Say an extra prayer for us! It is amazing to have Heavenly Father work through you to find the people He has prepared. I love it!!! I love my calling as a missionary!

We had some funny times this week....
First, was with Sister Hazelet. We were teaching her about the Christ-like attribute of hope, and my stomach would NOT stop growling!! I wasn't even hungry. All of us would awkwardly pause and listen as my stomach would rip out a loud growl..bahaha. It was funny. We all laughed together. I just have to say though....I blame dad ;)
Then, another night I woke up in the middle of the night and went to turn on the fan. Sister Colton thought that I had said something, but I didn't. But because she had no energy (she was half asleep), she just grunted at me.  Confused...I grunted back. The next morning, she asked me if I had said something to her and I said that I hadn't. She explained that she grunted because she couldn't muster up the strength to say anything. We had a good laugh about that.

It has been lots of fun here in Indiana! We have had some crazy storms and some fun times! We are working hard and the fruits are starting to come.

Also, I am no longer in the Indianapolis Indiana Mission, so don't send any mail to that address! It has changed. I don't know the new Mission Home address, but when I get it, I will let you know. In the meantime you can send it right to my apartment in Huntington. Thanks!!

I love you all! Continue to always read in your scriptures and stay close to our Father in Heaven. It is only through Christ that we can be happy!

With Love,

Sister Farr

06/24/13 - Week 20 in Indianna. [Week 3 of Transfer 4]

Hello family and friends!

Were any of you able to watch the broadcast last night??!!! Oh.my.goodness. It blew my mind! If you did not, I realllllly hope you can find it online! It was broadcasted from the Marriott Center in Provo all over the world to the churches. It was about missionary work and it was wonderful. I guess that we will start having technology in our missions....like iPad technology...and facebook accounts.. this changes EVERYTHING! It will be crazy. I am so excited, but really nervous. I was doing great without having to worry about the whole technology thing. But yeah, it was amazing. You HAVE TO watch it.

It has been a busy week. and a reallly hot week. The humidity here is killer. You just sit outside and feel the sweat drip down your back the whole time. Your clothes stick to you, and it is just nasty. But I will get through it! I just try not to think about it. haha.

On Tuesday, Sister Colton was sick :( the poor thing. So I had a day inside...studying...the whole day. Lets just say I got a headache. But I learned some really cool stuff! I was able to read an entire book called "Our Search for Happiness" by Elder Ballard. It is amazing! It talks a lot about the restoration and our basic beliefs. It is SUCH a good book! I would highly recommend it to everyone to read. It helps you understand some of the "whys" behind the gospel. It is pretty great. I also read a lot in the Book of Mormon. I just love that book. I can't explain it. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. There is no doubt in my mind that it is true. It speaks of real people who talked with God and were lead by Him to the America's. But the things that we can learn from that book are things beyond the veil. There is a deeper meaning in every verse. I have loved studying the Book of Mormon more in depth. It is the most correct book from God.

I was able to give out the Book of Mormon to a guy this week who is actually part Indian. It was cool to see his eyes light up because it told the story of how his ancestors got here. We will be teaching him this next week more about it. His name is Jeremiah. I found him on Saturday when I was on an exchange with Sister Francis. He was sitting on his porch smoking with his friend Adam (also a new investigator) and so we walked up to him and started talking. At first, he wasn't so interested. He had talked to Elders before, but he said they would just give him a card and keep walking. But I just felt like we needed to stay and chat. I just started asking him casual questions about his life, and then went back into the gospel..he still wasn't intererested so I decided to give him a card. I felt like I should give him the card with the Salt Lake temple picture on the back side. When I gave him that card, he turned it around and said "Wow!! What is this?!" I explained a little bit about the temple and he just thought that it was amazing. So we started talking again. Then he told us he wished us luck with our missions and that we could stop by any time...but I could feel that there was more. So I casually chatted with him and then brought up the gospel again. Then the thought came to me that I should talk about the Book of Mormon. Right when I brought it up, you could see that his interest level just sparked! It was soo cool! He asked us straight up where he could get a copy of it. We gave him a copy and we committed to come back the next week and talk about it. It was sooo cool! I give no credit to myself. If you know me, I am the opposite of talkative. I am not the kind of person to do much "small chat" but with the help of Heavenly Father, he is making weak things become strong (just as it says in Ether 12:6). That day, we found 3 new investigators!! It was an incredible day.


But also, there was a crazy rain storm! It just rolled in unannounced. There was a fair going on in the town and everyone was scattering like ants to get out of the coming storm. The clouds were so black and just rolling in. In Utah, we have the mountains to slow it down and stop it, but here they just FLY by. It was a pretty intense storm.. we got pretty wet...but it was also lots of fun!! I love the rain.

Also, yesterday we were doing a finding fast (Sister Colton and I). It is something that President Collins challenged the whole mission to do. And it was the hardest fast sunday ever!!! We went to church, and the first person who came up to us gave us a card with a gift card to Applebee's in it. Now, that wasn't too bad because it was just a gift card. But then in Relief Society, as part of the lesson, Sister Sackett made cookie dough batter as she taught about strong marriages. She handed out cookies at the end. Sister Colton and I just looked at the cookies with our mouths watering and looked at each other and wanted to cry. We could smell them so strongly! It was awful. Sister Colton even started to get shaky. bahaha. Then Sister George came up to us after and gave us a huge plate of peanut butter bars. At that point, we almost lost it...but we held strong!! It was a very tempting fast sunday for us. But we did it...you should be proud! ;)

The work is plugging a long here in Huntington! It is just a matter of finding people to teach and everything else will work out! We are visiting less-active people and having a blast! We met with Sister Stine this week. She is 99 years old! And still walking and talking and stuff. She loved having us over and gave us some referrals to her granddaughters. She said that the one thing that she wants before she dies is for her family to be in the church....we will see what we can do about that. It may be hard! But we can do it....maybe. With the Lord, all things are possible.

Also, I finally got a picture of Wanda and Andrew at their baptism!! Horray!
 The picture is of old downtown Huntington :D  I love it!

I am out of time. But I love you all!!!! Keep following God and it will all work out.

Love, Sister Farr