Alligator in Wyoming?

Well, you might be wondering why my title is about an alligator...well, let's just say, crazy things happen, even in the middle of Wyoming. My very first dinner appointment in my new area of Rawlins, was quite different. We got there and they said, "We have a real treat for you tonight! We are frying up an alligator for you all tonight! Fresh." I looked over and they had an alligator tail just chillin on the counter, still floppin around. It was crazy. They had a friend who brought it to them that very day or something and after playing with it all day, they killed it and were going to fry it up for us. It was quite an interesting dinner...for a lot of reasons. But it was pretty good. So, now I guess I can say the craziest food I ate on my mission was alligator, in the middle of Wyoming! Who would have thought that would ever happen. 

We have 2 main progressing investigators. One, Sherry, Sister Z and I actually found originally while we were shopping on a P-day. We gave her a pamphlet and got her name and number and then realized she was in the other ward. The sisters have been teaching her for a couple months and she is almost ready to be baptized but wants to make the decision on her own and not be pushed. She is a sweet older lady and has been through a lot. She has changed so much since when we first met her in the thrift store. She comes to church every week and now we just need to help her see the importance of baptism with out her feeling pressured. She hates that! ha. 

Our second investigator is from a Part Member family. I have not been able to officially meet him yet but he is planning on being baptized in the next few weeks. I hear he is just great and really ready to be baptized. 

We also found 4 new investigators this week. Two of them are sweet, black ladies, actually the mother of Elvis, the cowboy, the picture I sent over email one week. But they are so sweet and we have dinner with them this week and we will teach them the restoration. We also have a lesson with a lady, a referral from a lady in my last ward, her friend that she works with. We stopped by last night and she said that she had started reading the Book of Mormon already and she listened to General Conference on Saturday afternoon. Awesome right?! So we are excited to teach her this week. 

The leadership in this ward is really great. They really have their ward council going, a great bishop and ward mission leader, and missionary coordination. Super excited to work with the ward even more. 

It was a super weird Sunday this week because it was Stake Conference, so both wards came together for the broadcast. Everyone from the Ferris Mountain ward got really confused to see me still here but they were so happy too. But it was hard for me. I loved seeing everyone and talking to everyone, but I wanted to focus on my new ward, which was hard to do when everyone was talking to me and I wanted to talk to them! haha. I just realized even more how much the other ward is just a family to me. But another neat thing I realized is how easy it has been to just love the people I have met so far in this ward too. It is for sure a different dynamic than the other ward but there are still amazing people that I am excited to get to know more. 

Had an interesting lesson last night. There is a family here that the Sisters have been teaching who are Born Again Baptists. I hear that usually they go over and they can never get very far because they just have so many questions and it takes up the whole time. So this time, we went in with a new plan and approach. We went in, they got to know me, asking me about my testimony and how I gained it, and then we said, "Tonight we are going to do something different." We handed them each a piece of paper and asked them to write down any questions they had while we taught and we would get to their questions but we wanted to teach them the whole restoration, so they could have the whole picture. They agreed. We were able to teach the whole first lesson, powerfully, and the spirit was there. They only interjected with a few questions through out. Even though she was frantically writing through a lot of it:) But the spirit was there and afterward he said, "Wow, that was really a great lesson!" Giving us the credit, but we know it was the spirit that he felt. It is tricky because we don't know how interested they really are, or how open, I should say. They disagree with a LOT of what we taught and aren't willing to find out for themselves. But it made me realize that, with the spirit, we can become powerful teachers and even if they don't acknowledge the spirit, it was there, and they felt it. But they are really sweet people and a neat family.

 

OH-Also, I forgot, my companion speaks Spanish and we are teaching like 3 Spanish investigators right now. We had a couple lessons and I had no idea what was going on....that was tough. But I just try to help them feel my love and I am trying to learn Spanish even more. I will be able to pray soon in Spanish:) That will be good. But it is for sure going to be interesting.

I love you all!!

Love,

Sister Young

Alligator in Wyoming?

Alligator - a real treat for dinner!