Hey family!!!
Wow, July is here already? That is
CRAZY. I'm glad to hear that you all had a great fourth of July
celebration! I'm really sorry to hear about the death of that young man.
Agency is a great thing; it's sad when others use it in a way that
affects them so negatively. I hope his family is okay.
the fourth here was another missionary day! Nothing too crazy. They
don't do parades here but people were out barbequing so it provided for
some finding opportunities. When we came home that evening, we were
able to see a few fireworks from our home. So it was good :)
I don't even know what's happened this week. It's
been a blur! I've decided that my transfer here with Sister Malloy has
mostly been spent together soaking wet. ha. Tennessee has been really
getting dumped on! When it rains, it monsoons. It's so crazy here. One
of our investigators couldn't come to church because he said the roads
were flooded. Well, of course we were super sad, so we decided to visit
him after church because the rain had stopped. We didn't know he was
literally meaning the streets were flooded! They had a crew working on
it and everything. LOTS of water. Michael was so sad he couldn't attend
church. He was really looking forward to it. But he was grateful that we
were able to "bring church to him" as he put it since we visited him.
Another rain story; Sister Malloy and i were out
tracting and the weather was just fine. Well. out of the blue it starts
to POUR. so we are soaking and far from our car where our umbrellas are,
so we decided to just keep tracting back to the car since we already
were soaked. About a half hour later we make it back to the car. We
didn't want to ruin the car by getting in when we were soaked, so we
thought maybe we could get our umbrelaas and stand outside to try
ringing our skirts out. Well, this provided for a fun scene for the
people sitting on their porch across the street ha. Just imagine this,
They are sitting outside watching the storm and they see two girls
soaking wet walking to the car, pull out the umbrellas, and then just
stand there for a few minutes in the rain drenched with the umbrellas
now over our head. We're already soaked, defeating the whole purpose of
an umbrella. They just looked at us funny and i'm pretty sure they were
trying not to laugh at us. ha good times.
Well this week has been another good one! We haven't
been able to see Wilma since the last time. We're hoping to see her
again this week. Kenneth came to church on Sunday and he threw out his
cigarettes the last time we saw him. So he's progressing really slowly,
but progressing nonetheless.
Another random thing happned this week. Of course
this was in the rain again. We were tracting and this car pulls over and
a young man calls out, "Are you missionaries?" okay, so this only
really happens if 1. you are a mormon 2. you know a mormon really well.
He invites us to head up the hill to a Baptist BBQ. He drives off and we
contemplate if that would be a good idea or a recipe fo disaster. We
keep walking in the direction of the church and he drives by again with a
girl in the car and they made us some food! He said, "I wasn't sure if
you were going to make it, so we decided to bring you some food!" wow.
so we told him we would go, and we continued walking to the church where
they met us. We talked with him and it turns out his best friend
growing up is Mormon and he recently left on his mission for South
America. This guy we were talking to, Andrew, was telling us how sad he
was that his best friend was going to leave for 2 years. But since then,
he has always wanted to take care of any missionary that he sees, feed
them, talk with them, be nice to them, etc because of his friend. he
said he might come to our church so he can meet more of the
missionaries, which would be really cool. It really shows us the power
of our example to those who are around us. His friend has made a big
impact on him that he will remember forever and it is influencing how he
treats others who are also mormon.
Well our mission just got bigger! We recieved a
whole new zone/stake from n. carolina. The asheville stake has joined
us. So our mission is getting bigger and the work is moving faster. The
Lord is truly moving the work along. It's so great!
well, I just want to let you all know how much I
love this Gospel. It truly has done miracles in my life and in the life
of those we are teaching. I have been able to gain a stronger
relationship with my Heavenly Father and I have really come to know who
my Savior is. As I study His life, I feel that I have been able to
develop a great friendship with him. He is my best friend and I know I
can trust him and rely on him in my life and in this great work. I know
for a fact that this Gospel is true. many people try to tell us how
wrong we are, but my faith remains unshaken. It grows stronger each day
and I cannot and will not deny what I have come to know for myself to be
true and that is this Gospel.
I love ya'll and I pray you all stay safe and have a great week!
Love, sister Preston
