Sister Samantha Reeves: More Progress with Less Actives

Hello!!!! Okay so this week we met the coolest less active. I love her so much. She joined the church 10 years ago. She is 72 and from Corsica. She is going to teach me how to pray in French. We challenged her to read Ether 12. She feels uncomfortable at church and feels like no one likes her. We told her to think about how the Savior can help her come back. She went to the saturday session of stake conference (WHICH WAS INCREDIBLE) and right when it ended she said, "Now I feel guilty!"

We asked her why and she said "Becuase I am the one making all the excuses." It was cool to have the spirit teach her and for her to recognize it. I showed her around and introduced her to members of the ward. They thought she was an investigator... she would respond "No I am a less active in your ward and they are draggin me back!" haha she is so cute. I love her! Hopefully she lives long enough so you all can meet her. We are going to have a discussion about Ether 12 on Friday!

Here are some quotes from conference that I enjoyed:

"Just doing the things on our 'gospel bucket list' doesn't equate to having His image in our countenance."
"Pray with extraordinary faith in the morning to be blessed with opportunities to share the gospel"
"The bishop didn't have a plan but Heavenly Father had one. Because he listened to the spirit, he was able to be a tool in the Lords hands."

One man who was a bishop who I LOVED shared a story about procrastination (secretly I want to marry someone like him. He was so cool! So young yet his heartfelt testimony of how he felt the atonement in his life was beautiful)

One day all the devils got together and they counseled on how they could get God's Children. One of the devils yelled "Lets get them to lie and steal and cheat!" (All the devils liked that and cheered) then another said "Lets get them to hate each other and kill!" (They cheered even louder). Then one wise old devil in the back of the room got up and said "Lets get them to go to church, pray, and read." The room got silent. Then in an uproar everyone started yelling "Hey! He's not on of us!" "Who does he think he is?!" They went crazy. Then Satan, the king of all the devils, got up and said, "No. I like that. Lets get them to pray and read even attend church and make them feel good about being baptized. Lets have them do all these things...Tomorrow."

Another cool experience we had this week was that we didn't know what to do with the time we had left. So on the street we said a prayer and BAM! a man started walking toward us. We greeted him, and he responded, "Hey! Weren't you girls supposed to meet with me today?" (On exchanges sister Bodine had set up an appointment with a man named Jerone. We forgot about the appointment and realized later in the day, and called him but to no avail.)

We told him about the confusion! and He agreed to meet us right there at Tim hortons to hear our message. It was great! His name is Jerone. Hopefully we can meet with him this week. #miracles

H.and her family are having a really hard time right now. Her separated husband is extremely verbally abusive and controlling. He will not let them go to church. They feel like they have been praying and reading more than ever but life is getting worse. For a moment I was frustrated at God that he was not blessing them. They prayed so hard that their dad would not come get them for the weekend but he came. They are very upset now. We are seeing them tonight and are hopefully getting some people to give a priesthood blessing tomorrow. We have the COOLEST idea for a lesson though. Sister mendenhall and I feel very strongly to deviate from the original plan and to teach about music and share a pioneer story. We are going to commit them to memorize a hymn so they can say it in their minds in the downest of times.

I LOVE music. It has lifted me when I felt so down. I love writing lyrics. I've been doing so a little more this past week.

In my nightly prayers while I was praying about them I realized that I did not want to fully accept the Lords will.

Love you all!!!!!!!!

Oh, one more thing. We have been trying to visit this less active family, the T's, for a while. One day we were with some members and had planned on meeting with an investigator. But they were late and the investigator couldn't meet anymore. So we decided to go to the T's with them and try our luck. As luck would have it we got into the apartment building, stepped out of the elevator there were the T's, carrying groceries into their home! aH HAH!! We caught them and...sort of pushed our way past the excuses into the home.

At first they were pretty standoffish but by the end of the lesson I KNOW that sister T. felt the spirit and Brother T. gave the prayer. She then invited us over for dinner on Thursday. The members that went with us were super awesome at bearing testimony and inviting them to activities. Mom, dad, jeffrey, Daphne, and Emma! Have any of you been out with the missionaries? Your challenge this week is to get their info, invite them for dinner in the future, and tell the ages of everyone and that you all would love to go out with them for an appointment. (For instance mom and emma could go and visit a less active family with kids, or part member family and it'd be super great!!)

Sister Reeves

P.S. Dad how is that guy at work that you are trying to share the gospel with?

Hearing about your guy's fall break adventures was great! Of course the car broke down! I've been telling you to get rid of that thing for years! How is Bob (my car) doing? Man, thinking about watching all of the Work and the Glory episodes brought me right back to going to the Browns house. That was so fun!

We passed off Brodie to the YSA elders! He is doing good. Hasn't come to church yet though! Satan is working hard on him, he says. We are meeting with Daphne on Wednesday! Hopefully she will understand how the gospel can bless her family, not just brody.

As for Ahab and his family we decided to give him some time because they were "so busy.." We are going to contact him this week!!

Grandpa:
So my area is North York, basically Scarborough! We have been downtown a bit for things like the BOM Musical. There are about 85 members who attend. There are 3,500 Less active members in the Stake. I am starting to think that Sister Mendenhall's and my job is not to find a ton of new investigators but rather to reactivate and help ward members do their home and visiting teaching! I love working with the members. The ward mission leader is great! Thank you for all your suggestions!!