Week 23: "SHE hasn't given up on me yet."

This week was a good one! But, they all are. So what's new? 

Sister Allen, my new companion, is from Grantsville, Utah, and she is AWESOME. She's really prepared. And she's very motivated and enthusiastic. It's been really neat

hearing her talk about her MTC experience and what she learned. It's really allowed me to reflect on my experience. Granted, mine was a little unusual due to the whole eyeball deal, but it was still such a great learning experience. 

So Mr. W. I've talked about him a bit before. He is very depressed and we met with him a few times and our message cheered him up, but then he told us that "Mormonism" and just church in general weren't for him. He had "given up". But I told him that we were going to keep calling him and sending him links to uplifting video clips and he said that would be okay. So we did, every week for about a month and a half. But we never heard back from him! And I'll be honest, it was a bit discouraging. I had no idea if he was listening to the voicemails or watching the videos, and I was questioning whether or not it was doing him any good. So then last Tuesday, we were in his neighborhood and I told Sister Newren, "Lets just go stop by Wendell really quick and see how he's doing." So we knock on the door, and our hands almost fall off because they're frozen, and he opens it! He was very surprised, but very happy. He told us that he had just been reading from the bible. Then he looked at Sister Newren and said, "You know why I haven't give up yet?" Then he pointed to me and said, "Because SHE hasn't given up on me yet." Then he told us he'd like to continue meeting with us. Oooh my goodness. I can't tell you how good that made me feel. I was starting to get so weary! But it really just goes to show how a lot of times, you don't realize what kind of an impact you're making on people. So, moral of the story: never give up. We're meeting with him tonight, and I really hope that it goes well. 

I really love missionary work and all of the opportunities that come with it. It truly is a great learning and growing experience. I'm excited for Cameron. He's going to be great and do great. 

Congrats to Laker, Cohen and Dallin! I'm so excited for them to be baptized. I wish I could be there, but I'll be there in spirit. Don't you worry. The invitations killed me. Why are they all so cute? Little models.

I love you guys! 

Love,

Sister Livingston

Hooray for rice cheeks. In Ohio. It doesn't even make sense!