Monday, December 2, 2013

Dec 2


 Hi Mom!
This is Holly.  Who knew it got that big?
As far as our Thanksgiving went, well let's just say the holiday to be a missionary is Thanksgiving!  Everyone wanted to have us over, and we didn't have room in our schedule for everyone!  You probably remember President Kirk, well he invited us for dinner, and we had so many appointments we only had time to go and wish them a happy holiday.  One of our dinners was with the C’s (also apart of Jon and Julie's family), and they are great cooks!!!  Another dinner that we attended was with Jim and Leslie's family, and they really go all out!  Afterwards we had a really cool "missionary conference" with Leslie about how to get the youth more excited and involved in missionary work.  We had a really great brainstorming session, and everyone left feeling pretty excited about the potential ideas and activities. 
Typical Ohio house, they leave the candles up year round.
Working with the youth is something that Sister Olson and I have been focused in on the last two weeks.  I have to admit, it is one of my slower moving finding ideas, but it has the potential to be very fruitful.  We are focused so much on it because all of the people we have been teaching have been either because of the youth or are young themselves (with the exception of Jon).  As part of our efforts we started praying for youth referrals, and then out of the blue we got a media referral!  I don't know if you know what that is, but there are many resources for people to get ahold of the church to request either items, like the Book of Mormon, or to actually request a missionary visit.  Well Rachel, an 18 year old girl, was researching religion because she felt herself pulling away from the Catholic faith.  She came across mormon.org, and typed in a question.  A few short hours later we knocked on her door.   We were able to answer some questions that she had felt pressing in her mind, and promise her relief of guilt and sin.  She gladly accepted the baptismal invitation!  I know that this is Jesus Christ's church!  I know that Heavenly Father loves us, and wants to help each of us share the message of the restoration.  I also know that to be successful we have to put our complete faith and trust in Him, and must be willing to ask for help.  I wish I had done more before I came out on my mission.  There are so many opportunities that I passed up to share what I know right at home. 
Love you all very much!
Sister D.K. Bakker





No comments:

Post a Comment