This week has been a little rough but that's okay. I havebeen praying recently and more fervently for more patience and love so Ireceived more trials and afflictions. Nothing too serious though.

We have a couple investigators right now. One actually has a mutual friend with Sister Ding. The investigator's name is Jessica. We have taught her one lesson so far and she loved it. We also gave her a tour of the church. That was a very spiritual experience for her. One thing that we struggle with as a companionship is teaching NOT by rote presentation. We get comfortable with the groove we are in and we just don't want to leave it. This isn't the most effective way to teach though. The church tour was completely by the spirit. The lesson afterward...well we can do better. And we will.

Another investigator we have is Pam. I think I have told you about her already. She meets with us about once a month. She has been reading the Book of Mormon but won't come to church without her husband. We don't think it is because she doesn't see the importance of church but because she doesn't want to cause contention in her home by going to her husband's church without him. She has a sweet testimony and a true hunger for the gospel. I hope we can get her to come to church regularly.

Gilbert, our recent convert is doing well. He's having a bit of a problem getting scooped up by the ward simply because he is never home and difficult to get a hold of. He is reading and praying and sharing the gospel with all he meets. He gave a Book of Mormon to his friend Gabriel. He says his friend has been reading it too. Yay!

Our ward had their annual Halloween party. As promised, they had a lot of potential investigators there. We met quite a few of them and passed out pass along cards to all their children. :D The kids especially loved the "Finding Faith in Christ" cards. All of them started pulling out their cards and comparing their pictures. It was really cute.

Recently I have been studying Chapter 8 of Preach My Gospel.I have come to realize that I need to use this time more wisely. I especially liked the accountability section. I have been falling into the trap of, "Well, because they haven't called us back, the appointment didn't happen." or "Because my companion forgot to remind them, they didn't remember." But all of these are simply excuses. I need to take more responsibility for my actions.

There have been many opportunities for growth for me this week. I have had the chance to learn how to love other cultures and traditions that I otherwise would have happily avoided. I have also had the pleasure of learning first hand...again...that not everyone will love you upon first sight. Sometimes that love has to be allowed to grow. These are really important principles to learn however.


I hope everything is going well back home. My ward mission leader was asking me how Indiana was and I couldn't really tell him...Haha He served his mission there so he has a certain affinity for northern Indiana.


Oh! Guess what! We got a new sister here from the Nauvoo mission. She was companions with a certain Sister Sketzlar (I don't remember how to spell her name.) Do you remember her? She was serving in the Charlestown Branch right before I came on my mission! Cool huh? She's home now. I'm going to get her address so I can write her. :D


Well, I love you all. Hopefully we'll get to stop at a CVS so I can print out some pictures for you.


Love,


Sister Shavonne Fielding