I don't even know where to start right now?
Well let's start with the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm so grateful that we have it in its fulness upon the earth today. Thanks to the gospel and Christ's atonement, 2015 can be the best year yet! Life is great, the gospel works, God is near, and I'm so joyful:D

anyways, here's the week!

A bunch of the ward came together to help the Lincolns finish up moving, there was such a great turnout, we didn’t end up doing very much, besides watching the faithful priesthood holders magnifying their callings. Sis Lincoln was amazed, she said she had no idea what was happening, all of a sudden all of these men were at her home moving things and they were finished in 30min. They drove all the packed cars to the property and everything was unloaded, she never even had to lift a finger. Bro Lincoln chuckled and said, “she’s never experienced a Mormon service project”.

We received a new ward roster and Sis Burbank spotted a new name in our area. We had the Connors in our plans for the past few days, but we’d never had time to actually drop by. Finally around 6:30pm tonight we did! In the dark of the night we found the house, and were astonished to realize we’d worked literally all around this house. We were teaching Doris across the street and I’d knocked and contacted their next door neighbor. Haha, we even were driving by Christmas day, saw them playing in the front yard, commented on how cute of a family they were, and then their dog ran out in the road and I almost hit it. I’m so grateful that me killing their dog wasn’t our first encounter. Anyways, when we stopped by tonight she let us right in. She was baptized in Montana and super involved, moved to Washington but wasn't a fan of the ward. She admitted that was her own fault, not the ward’s. They’d just moved here a few months ago. The miracle of it all is this: About 2 yrs ago Danelle was talking with her husband about how much she wanted a church, the next day, 2 sister missionaries knocked on her door and she was baptized. Now in the present day, she was talking with her husbandYESTERDAY about how she wanted to get back into church, and WHAMO we are lead to her door! She ended up coming to church the next day with her 2 boys too!

One of the best lessons with the Haynes, it was great, thanks to the spirit we were able to discern that Bro. Haynes really wants to do this for his family, but he can’t if it’s not true, so it’s kinda tearing him apart because he feels like his family is disappointed in him. He didn’t actually say all of that, but that’s what the spirit helped us discern. Sis Haynes also opened up how hard this has been for her, that she’s been so strong and really wants this, but it’s hard because he’s not really progressing. She still has concerns of her own, she’s only recently been coming back to church.

Sister Haynes shared in church on Sunday, “I wasn’t living life fully without the gospel. Then the one day I had just been thinking about church, the sister missionaries (US!) showed up at my door”.
I wish I could say we had a crazy amazing vision that directed us to go to her home, nope. Sis Gubler had told us she thought her neighbor might be Mormon, and we thought we’d check it out. It’s neat to see how God was really guiding us the whole time.

It was funny at the end of the lesson, Sis Burbank asked if they’d talked about WHEN the boys could be baptized. Izayah came shooting down from upstairs saying, “I want to be baptized, and I’m going to be baptized! There’s nothing you can do to stop me (this is the 10yr old by the way). I want the Holy Ghost, I want the holy spirit. I want to be a missionary like them one day!”.

…and the Lincoln family dwelt in a tent. Meanwhile in the wilderness of South Carolina, the Lincoln family has entirely moved into a little trailer and a tent for the next 3ish months, until their home is built. Oh boy, I can’t even imagine. This is a family of 6, and they also have 2 Brazilian mastiffs. The 3 girls all sleep in the same bed, Jared is on the pull out couch, the dogs are on the floor and bro and sister Lincoln are in a tent that bro Lincoln has lined with insulation to keep them through the 2 coldest months of the year in SC. That family is so faithful; they even still had us over for our usual lesson and dinner. It was seriously one of the best meals; we had tinfoil/hobo dinners and smores for dessert. By light of campfire we read from Ether 12 to them about faith. Bro and Sis Lincoln really opened up about how all of this is a huge act of faith. It seems crazy to everyone else, but they feel good about it and have pressed forward. They’re not in the ideal situation, but they know it’s where the Lord needs them to be right now. What a great life lesson? Plus bro Lincoln added, it’ll help them prepare for when the second coming draws nigh.

Sis Lincoln laughed and said, “It’s only been 2 days, ask us if we want tinfoil dinners and smores in a month”.

love y'all!

Sister Smith!!!