"Denver, we have a problem"

Sister H2 thought of that email title and I thought it was really funny because it was after one of our investigators "dropped us like it's hot" as I like to call it. I will explain in detail later.

I LOVE email time. Mainly because I get to hear from people. Writing about my week is becoming less exciting because it is just so overwhelming to think of everything that happened. I feel like for my mental well-being on P-days I will start taking notes again. I can barely remember what was this week and what was the past two weeks. But honestly if all we did on P-days was email and then go work I'd be fine. I just thrive off of communication with you all :)

Sister H2 and I have been trying really hard to talk to every single person we see while walking to appointments and it's been a lot of fun. I was thinking about how sad it will be when I get home from my mission and it will be 10x weirder so I'm pretty sure I'll just put my name tag on and pretend I'm still a missionary. I always like when people are walking their dogs, it makes it less awkward to approach them because then I can say "OH! Cute dog! Can I pet it?" Then after small talking you sneak in a little "By the way- we're missionaries and we share a message about Jesus Christ and we know that it can bring you happiness no matter what you are going through. And we know that God loves us and so he has called a prophet to guide us......." deep deep down people enjoy our "pet-restoration message" approach.

One cool story- Remember that little boy N who asked us "How can I get missionaries to come to my house?" and we gave him a BOM and a pass along card? Well when we gave it to him we said "If you call this number you will get this DVD for free (Lamb of God DVD. I've never even seen it)" So this week Webster Lake ward had a baptism and all the missionaries try to go and support so there were some elders who came up and said "Did you guys give a little boy named N a pass a long card?" And we said "Um.. yes?" Apparently he did call the number and when they came to his house they were asking the Grandma who N was and he runs out and says "That's me!" And when they tried to give him a BOM he said "Oh I already have one of those, I want the Lamb of God DVD!" Haha. So now they are teaching his family!

M is still on fire. We next lesson we taught her after committed her to August 10th was AMAZING. We sat down and she looked like she was going to jump out of her chair she was so excited. She said "I have to tell you guys something. You told me to pray about the BOM and if I should be baptized so I did and when I finished my prayer I opened the book right to this page (3 Ne 11)" She continued by reading to us verse 24-32. She could barely get through them she was so excited. By the end she was crying and said "I KNOW this book is true and I can't wait to be baptized!" Later in the lesson she asked if we could come over for dinner and we set up August 9th and she said "That's the night before my baptism!!!" Wow. Being a missionary stinkin rules. She was able to come to the Webster Lake ward baptism and there she started crying againa and said "My brother (Who's a member) told me that you guys leave!!" She isn't very happy about that but we promised that we will be back in a year to go through the temple with her :) A member we brought to the lesson told her about FHE and she is super excited. She told us last night "Tomorrow for that Family thing, we are going to drive down to see the temple" I can't believe she is already doing FHE! Then she told us how she can't wait to bear her testimony next Sunday in church. She accepted the Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity. I can't even tell you how awesome she is. I almost feel bad counting her as a baptism because I honestly did nothing. We just are lucky enough to be the missionaries that get to watch the Spirit teach her.

G didn't come to church this week so we called around 9 to ask where he was and he said "I'm driving my son to the babysitter and then I will be there!" But he never showed up. So after church we stopped by his house twice and then later I said "Let's just try G one more time." He opened the door and had tears in his eyes. He explained that he took his son to his fiance (the mom) and she called the cops or something because she didn't get enough time with her son and now they have to go to court. He said "I'm so sorry I didn't go to church." I think the cops coming is a pretty good excuse so we let him off the hook ;) Then we talked to him about the Atonement and he just cried the whole time. He said "I am trying to do what God wants but these things still happen to me" We told him that this gospel will give him the chance to live with his son forever and no one will ever take him away. He said "I want to see my son grow up. I want to be there when he falls. I don't want him to fall but he will." I said "That's how Heavenly Father feels towards you!!!!" He is only in town on the weekends so we set up a time to come back and he said "I want to see my angels Friday, Saturday, and Sunday" So presh <3 He always calls us his angels.

J.......... The worst part of the week. We met with him this week and his ex-wife was there and I don't even want to get into that because I'll be too negative. So We don't make appointments when she's there because we don't want her there and we normally call to set on up. She we called and J said, "I'll be at church we can talk there." So he came to church on Sunday and we said "When can we come by?" and he said "I don't think I'll be coming anymore." I didn't even understand for a second. My heart really felt completely broken. I LOVE J. He was showing no signs of wanting to drop us. It was a complete shock. I didn't really know what to say so he just tried to explain that T (ex-wife) doesn't approve and he really cares about her. When he was done all I could say was "Well..... that's a bummer...." All of the members we brought to lessons were there and they were crushed. Brother L said "I respect your decision, we are always here if you ever need anything." After Sunday School B W was chatting with him in the hallway and telling him "We will sure miss you coming. Just keep reading your scriptures and listening to the Spirit." And J just looked at him and said "Yeah, I know, I'm just really lost right now.." It was heartbreaking. He is so confused because of the crazy things T says. I taught J for so long and absolutely love him and J. After Sacrament meeting we shook his hand goodbye and J comes up confused and asks "Are you not coming over anymore?" :'( I kept telling myself to get over it because there was work to do but then I felt bad because you can't just get over someone turning away from the gospel. I'm not "over it" but we did end up having a great day with a lot of happiness :) Heavenly Father helped us out.

Sister H2 and I spoke in Sacrament meeting about member missionary work. I was so happy to get them all in one place so I could tell them how important it is!! Also it was a kinda like my last little testimony to J. It went really well :) Did you know we are asked to get 3 member referrals a week?! yeah, I think I've gotten 3 in my whole 2 months so far. There is a lot of pressure to get members more involved now. Sometimes in lessons with members I feel like I need to just get on my knees and beg them to do missionary work because nothing else is working! After we spoke Bishop got up and said "We are so thankful to have wonderful sister missionaries in our ward" and it kinda hit Sister H2 and I- we are the sister missionaries!!!!! How cool is that??

Mom- your calling is Public Affairs right? We work with that committee a lot! I always think about you when we are with them :) I love that we do 10 hours of service a week. It is so much fun. Mom and Dad- are you going to pick me up from my mission? I know you have quite a while to think about it ;) but Sister P asked if you were because I was raving about you and told her she needs to meet you.

Funny moments- (I need to write them down more so I can remember)

-M has a dog she wants to get rid of so we told her we'd ask Sister P. So during weekly planning we walked into Sister P's office and said "Sister P? We have a question." She could see what was coming and said "...what...?" "Can we get a dog???" She started laughing and said "I've been looking for a dog! But that's why I got you two remember" She went to meet the dog but he was kinda spastic so she said doesn't want that one but it was still really funny.

-we sing at nursing homes and S H2 and I were the first ones there for about 10 minutes so she played the paino and I just sang some hymns by myself to them haha

-Quote from our Zone Leader Elder G"I'm telling you guys this because you're my homegirls- but I've got a mad crush on Abish from the Book of Mormon" hahahahaha what??? Who says that??

-"My God is a republican"- 91 year old man we taught

-"If Sacrament Meeting ends early, we'll be heroes!!"- B L (Ward Mission Leader)

Sad moments

-elders and sister are no longer allowed to hang out on P-days. I wanted to cry when I heard that. Our zone is really close and we love playing sports on P-days.... So we are going to try and do something fun with the Sisters today since the elders called the church to play basketball

-I got my first door that literally slammed in my face! We never go tracting really but we were visiting a part member family and both Sister H2 and I felt strongly that we needed to knock on a door so we did. An fatter, shorter, meaner Gandalf opened the door and said "What do you want." We cheerfully said "We are sharing a message about Jesus Christ!" He started at us and said "and your both fools." *slam* it wasn't really sad. It was actually a little funny. I can't wait to get to the other side and find out why we were supposed to knock on that door ;)

Well I love you all. Not a day goes by that I don't think about you! I love having all 5 of us kids on my planner to look at everyday. Siblings- I know you are all busy but you should write me every now and then ;) I love being a missionary. The church is true!! Now everyone go read the Book of Mormon and then after that go give one to somebody! Love you!

Sister Collette Knowlton :D