Surprise!

I'm getting transferred. in fact, Sister Kim is too! Who would have thought!? I sure didn't. There aren't enough missionaries in the mission so they are taking the sister missionaries out of the Central Park area and the ASL Elders are going to do their own deaf side of things as well as what we were doing. The Lord works in mysterious ways...The saddest part about this (for Sister Kim and I) is that this week we found not one, but TWO new investigators! Let me tell you about them...

Our first new investigator is Rachel*. The ASL Elders were contacting people at Lake Elizabeth and she asked for a pass-along card and agreed to have the missionaries over. On Tuesday night we went over to their apartment and found out that Rachel's husband, James*, is actually a less-active member of the church and his records just aren't in our ward yet. They have a cute one-year-old daughter named Kate*, too. We went with the intent of finding out Rachel's interest in the church. Rachel had already taken all of the missionary lessons in a different area before and she had all of the pamphlets and a copy of the Book of Mormon out when we came. I could tell that she loves her family and she really wants to give the best to her daughter, so family is very important to her. She loves that the church makes a big emphasis on families. She has sincere questions and really wants to know for herself if The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints really is Christ's church. We invited her to the Relief Society birthday party, which was actually the next day, and she came! It was great because the women in the ward were so welcoming and helped her to feel comfortable. It was a relief to us to know that if we were leaving (which we found out a few days later), then she would at least know people in the ward (they tend to leave less often than we do). Rachel came to church yesterday with her daughter (James works on Sundays so he isn't able to come) and as far as I could tell, it went well for her. I am just so grateful for the great members of the Central Park ward because now she has a support system to help her. By the way, she says that she is moving in the direction of baptism, so hopefully she keeps moving that way. I know that it will help her family more than anything.

Our second new investigator is Ashlee*. Ashlee met the sister missionaries in this area last year and didn't have the time to take the lessons then, but she kept the phone number and called us last week to see if we could meet. We said, "ABSOLUTELY!" and we met her this past Thursday at the church building. Sister Morgan was also able to be there, and we were so grateful for that. We took Ashlee on a tour of the church building and she was taking the tour with the intent of coming to church, not just out of curiosity. She asked about the "dress code" and where we're supposed to sit during sacrament meeting, but she was most interested in hearing about our basic beliefs, which was incredible to me. Ashlee is just graduated from high school this past year and her interest in the church grew as she observed some of her classmates that were members of the church. These members that she knew in high school went through a really difficult time because their father passed away pretty suddenly. Ashlee watched how they had such strength and faith and even excelled during that time. She told us that she went through a similar experience and she wants to have that same dedication to God. We taught her about how God calls prophets to teach us the gospel of Jesus Christ. We told her that even today God loves us so he called a prophet again. We had a November Ensign handy so we showed her a picture of President Monson and all of the other general authorities. She loved the idea that God has called a prophet again. We didn't get to share very much with her, but we invited her to be baptized and she said, "yes, I would like to" and then she asked, "how soon could I be baptized?" I didn't quite know how to answer that question. I know that you have to go to church at least three times before you can be baptized, but Sister Morgan stepped in and gave a great answer. She told her that as soon as she knows that this is true and she knows the commitments that she is making at baptism, she is ready to be baptized. I'm so grateful for the faithful members in this ward. They help us a lot.

So, the phrase "finders keepers" is not true, the ASL Elders will teach Rachel and Ashlee, but at least they're found. I hope that they can continue to learn and progress. 

General Conference is coming up this weekend! Yay! I'm excited to be able to watch it and to hear the Prophet and Apostles and other leaders in the church speak. So much revelation to be had! Have a great week!

*I changed their names