June 13, 2011

Hello family!

 

This week has been craziness!  We were all packed and ready to go to Sallisaw Thursday morning. We'd said our goodbyes to everyone and introduced our investigators to the Elders, when we got a call from President that we weren't leaving!  A sister that was supposed to be coming to our mission didn't, so everything changed.  From the conversation we had with President, it sounded like we'd either be going to Sallisaw with the regular transfer and then not coming back to Springfield, or we'd just be staying in Springfield. I thought we'd just be staying in Springfield.  We went around and told everyone we were staying and found more people. Then craziness happened again! We got transfer calls and found out Sister Gray is training in Sallisaw and I'm going to Nixa!  Nixa is that place I went to on exchanges and it's right next to Springfield.  I won't be coming back to Springfield and I won't be with Sister Gray anymore. She has been a great companion and we're sad we've only been together for a short time.  My companion will be Sister Stacey Olsen, who I went to high school with.  Crazy.

 

This week we had a lesson with a homeless man named John that we've been teaching at the park.  He fought in Iraq and has a lot of hatred toward Muslims.  In our other lessons he's talked a lot about his hate and all the terrible things he's seen.  This week when we saw him he had read from 1 Nephi 3 to 2 Nephi 2, which was the chapter we'd wanted to read with him!  He read for nine hours one day.  He was completely changed.  He was all smiles and talked about how happy he is when he reads The Book of Mormon.  He said hardly anything about terrible things he's seen and nothing about Muslims.  Instead, he talked about how he wants to help Israel.  It was amazing to see the change come over him.  The Book of Mormon is true!

We've seen a lot of people lately who are looking for happiness in the wrong places.  They turn to sin and quick fixes, and even when they know they should stop, they won't.  Then they talk about how miserable they are.  Satan is so sneaky and I feel so bad for those people.  It's hard to have something you know will fix someone's life and bring them true happiness and see them not choose it.  It's wonderful to see people who will, though.

 

I love being a missionary. I'm learning a lot about faith and about the Savior.   

 

I love you so much! Have a wonderful week!

 

Love,

Sister Monson