a missionary email

 Originally emailed home from Houston on April 6th 2009.

Dear Family,

Cool Stories from this week:

We've been teaching this less active member named Sandy. She was baptized when she was about 12, and hasn't really been active ever since. But she has a six year old son and decided she wants him to have a base, so when she saw the english elders on a corner she pulled the car over to talk to them. She doesn't speak english so she just barely was able to explain where her apartment complex is and the apartment number. When we went over to visit her she told us that she is a member, and so we've been teaching her the new member lessons basically, because she doesn't remember hardly anything of our doctrine... not even about Joseph Smith! Anyway, she's great and loves to give us things even though she doesn't have hardly enough money to pay her rent. About a week ago we went to an appointment we had with her and partway through the lesson we got off on how she had gotten into a fight with someone from work the night before. She said that she got really mad and didn't want to talk to anyone, and went off to take a breather. Then she noticed that she had a voicemail on her phone, and decided to listen to it. It was the voicemail that I had left on her phone reminding her of the appointment that we had the following day, and just calling to check on her. She said that as soon as she listened to the message she felt calm and peaceful, and she remembered to say a prayer to help her have patience with her co-worker. After that she was able to handle the situation. Man... it was so cool. The story was a witness not only to her, but to us too that we really are messengers of Christ. We all left feeling great and uplifted. Often the spirit can work through us and we don't even know it.

Yesterday, we taught a lesson to a new investigator named Monique. She lives in a trailer park in the northern part of our area, with her boyfriend's family. She looks to be about 18 and she just had a baby on March 13th. She's really sweet, and so we were excited to go over and teach her, although we weren't sure if she'd actually be there. When we got there, sure enough she was there, and almost the whole rest of the family as well! As we started the lesson with the song "I am a child of God", we had only Monique there, and she seemed a little uncomfortable singing in front of all the rest of her family. But as we sang, most of the little children in the house started to gather peering at us strange white people in their house singing in spanish. We then offered a prayer, and began the lesson. As we taught, the group grew larger. Soon the two twelve year old girls were on the couch as well. The women who was cooking in the kitchen was bashfully listening and watching... although every time we looked over at her she would pretend like she wasn't. Then the husband of the woman cooking in the kitchen came and sat on the couch as well. His children gathered around him. An older woman came out of a back bedroom and took a seat at the kitchen table, listening. Eventually, the woman that was cooking in the kitchen came in and took a seat on the couch as well. Eventually we had a group of about 10 people all squished into the tiny living room of this trailer, as we taught them about prophets, and the story of Joseph Smith. They gladly agreed to pray about our message and accepted the day and time we proposed to return. None of them were extremely educated in terms of the bible or religion in general, but they had such quiet simple faith. The spirit was very strong and I felt so blessed to be the vessel through which God could reveal his restored gospel to this humble, loving family.

Finally, I would ask that you keep our investigators in your prayers. We have such high hopes for all of them, but they struggle greatly with many of the worldly challenges that face them, and often face greater hardships as the adversary tries to prevent them from taking the steps they need to take to happiness. However we love them so much, and pray for them often. We know that your prayers make a difference as well.

I hope you all are doing fabulously, and I hope to hear from all of you soon!

Love,

Hermana Hollenbaugh