Journal Entry from 01/16/12 - Rebecca and Beth

January 16, 2012 
We went to visit old *Rebecca and her daughter *Beth was there. Beth was in a car accident and had a speech impediment. She is a musician and when she sang some of her blue grass music you would never be able to tell that she had something wrong with her. We gave her a Book of Mormon to read and hopefully she will read. At least her mom said that she would read it which was really funny.

Journal Entry from 01/16/12 - Barbara's daughter

January 16, 2012
Well, *Barbara's daughter that always rebukes us must have had some sort of change of heart because as she was jabbering her mouth away I asked her some questions. I am excited because we were able to set up an appointment with her and to teach. we also left a study question of why there are so many churches today. I am excited and hope that her heart can be softened. She talked about how she was trying not to judge and I think she was referring to us because we invited her to pray and she prayed for the ability to not be judgemental and I noticed she was crying afterwards. She also said she felt like something was important in store for me and as she said that I thought yup it's me gonna help you get baptized. She also mentioned she liked my challenging questions because it made her think and sometimes we get complacent.

Letter from Jessica 12/29/11 - Barbara

...We are teaching this old Baptist woman, *Barbara, who is so sweet.  She loves learning about Christ.  It's hard to have actual lessons with her because her stubborn 40 year old daughter hates us.  She is very hospitable to us and kind...but whenever we start teaching she always interrupts and talks about pointless crap and sometimes she'll get up on her high horse and tell us how it is.  Her mom gets annoyed and will look at us and roll her eyes.  So it's hard not to laugh while this woman is chastising us for only saying we are grateful and not saying thank you in our prayers or not memorizing scripture and going off about the millennium.  However the first time she went off on me she said all you do is say your grateful and don't say thankyou.  That's not enough and Honey you haven't been through anything yet because you are young.  But I sat there and listened and just took it with a smile and then when she was done I bore my testimony... 

Letter to Gma Little on 12/26/11

Dec. 26, 2011

Dear Gma & Gpa,

Thank you for the newsletter. I loved receiving it! I am glad you sent the whole thing!

Not many people get baptized out here but on my 8^th day 13-year-old *Amy committed to baptism. Her testimony is incredible. I have not yet met her parents but they sound incredibly supportive!

I loved reading Alma 24 today! I think that chapter will help with addictions. We always hear about the first of that story but my favorite is the last half! I love it so much! The Father provides several opportunities for those to truly become converted that they may repent. It is also very important for those of us who have made promises and tasted of His glory to be diligent in being obedient. I love this gospel, it becomes more real to me everyday!

Love you!

Sister Little

Journal Entry from 01/04/12 - Elizabeth

January 4, 2012

We dont know what to do with Elizabeth. She doesn't have a car, no internet, she is all alone, and she is always sick and in pain. I think being alone she also smokes and drinks out of boredom, but what are somethings we can tell her that would give her something to do other than smoke or drink? I mean she probably isn't going to read and pray 24/7, and TV can get boring too, she can't really always go for walks, but maybe we can encourage her to do that.  Also encourage her to write something. She writes poems and such. But maybe she will go on walks. I just dont know and she got in a fight with a less-active member in her apartment complex and the cops were called on her and now Elizabeth doesn't want to come to church in case that woman is there and freaks out and calls the cops on her. If the cops get called again then Elizabeth will be kicked out and she will be homeless. She talked about doing school again but like I said she doesn't have a computer or a way to get to a library or school...I just dont know what to do. I know she has a testimony...but how is she gonna make it work?

Journal Entry from 01/02/12 - Samantha

January 2, 2012

We met *Samantha on December 28, 2011. An hour or 2 before we met her I got a nervous feeling to meet her. I just don't get nervous! Especially the first time we meet people. I soon found out why. We read on her record that she knew the Book of Mormon was true. Before meeting with her I have been having a lot of experiences just teaching by the Spirit. I knew that I wasn't the one teaching. I also learned that Faith is always an action and that the Lord will keep His promises once we do our part. He tells us IF we open our mouths He will fill it. He is the teacher. So I knew that to be true but I understood it better after I met Samantha. After Samantha had read through the Plan of Salvation pamphlet she freaked out and was saying that's of the devil and she would ask all these questions and say no one would answer them, but no one answers because she doesn't listen...I knew that she would not listen because as I tried to teach...I could not and that was weird. I am always very confident and just teach as I am supposed to. I lost my train of thought and my head was like a blank page. Then all I had to lean on was my testimony. All I could do was bear my testimony of the things I knew to be true because that is engrained in my heart and can never be taken away. The Lord is always the teacher and through that I know He teaches and not me.

Journal Entry from 01/02/12 - Tracting

January 2, 2012

We were searching for less active members and one lady wasn't home. So we went to get back in the car and I saw a house across the street with the lights on and I thought we should go there. My companion already started the car and I said hey let's go knock on that door. So we did. This man was super friendly and attended some Pentacostal church, which I hear they do a lot of the speaking in tongues business...he said that was kinda weird and he was the more laid back type. He also seemed like for the start of a new year that he was trying to come closer to Christ. So we offered him a card and a Book of Mormon and said hope to see him again. We should have set up an appointment, but we will just have to stop by again.