"Never Give Up" - September 19, 2022

Hello hello family and friends!!

This week was amazing!!

The Leavitts invited us over for dinner on Tuesday!! It was so much fun! We had chicken pillows! I've had them a couple times on my mission and they are delicious!! We shared a message on preparing for the Saviors second coming. I invited them to continue doing the things that help them. In the .02 seconds of me saying this to them , I felt prompted to also invite them to journal about what they are doing so they can see their progression, so I did. Sister Leavitt then asked if we had prayed about what to share with them, which we had, because all day she had been feeling like she needed to start journaling again. I know the Lord directs and guides us, through the Holy Ghost. I'm grateful for that experience and seeing that as we follow the promptings of the Spirit we can help others strengthen their relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

Our lessons kept falling through on Wednesday so we decided to try stopping by Kasondra's home! We haven't heard from her in a while. When we pulled up she and her son, Aiden, were just getting out of the car! We talked with her for a while and set up a lesson for Saturday. When we stopped by on Saturday her car wasn't there. It was sad. We called and she didn't answer. We began deciding what to do when she called us back!!! She had lost track of time but was on her way home! Twenty minutes later we were sitting in her living room!! She asked us some questions about the Bible and that turned into discussing the Book of Mormon! We taught her the Restoration message and invited her to read from the Book of Mormon. It was a wonderful, Spirit filled lesson. She listened very intently to everything we shared and was excited about it all!! Sister Livingston and I are super excited to keep working with her! Please pray for Kasondra!

We met with our new friend Terry! He's pretty cool. We talked about the Pre-mortal life and about the Book of Mormon. He was excited about coming church, too!! He didn't make it this Sunday but we are hoping he can come next week!

Thursday was an amazing day. That morning we woke up to a message from a guy named Paul who wanted to meetbat Walmart so we could give him a copy of the Book of Mormon! We set up to meet with him at 10! We drove over and waited outside for him to come. A couple minutes later a nice guy walked up and said his name was Paul! We gave him the Book of Mormon and he began to explain his background to us. Back in 2008 he had met with missionaries and had read the whole Book. He didn't agree with everything they had taught so he stopped meeting with them. However, in 2012 he read the Book of Mormon again. Over the next 10 years he misplaced his copy. He saw Sister Livingston and my free Book of Mormon listing on Facebook Marketplace and decided he needed to get a copy again. He then bore his testimony to us about its truthfulness and how it had to have come from God. He also talked about how he knew it was time for him to change. It was so cool! We got him in contact with some elders who live closer to where he lives. It was so exciting!! I know that we don't meet people by accident. It all has a purpose! Im grateful we could meet Paul and help him continue to nurture his seed of faith, planted by other missionaries 14 years ago.

We had lunch with Brother Cox, the elders, and Micah on Thursday! Micah is a returning member! He has made so much progress in the past few weeks! He came to church last Sunday and the ward was soo happy to see him! God is a God of miracles!

We had some wonderful member lessons on Friday!! We met with Sister Butcher and had a very Spirit led lesson with her. Oh it was sk good! We also met with Joyce and Randy!! They are such a sweet couple who were baptized earlier this year! I just love all the people here!!

Tony is on date for baptism!!! He will be baptized on October 26th! We are sooo excited for him! Joyce and Randy joined our lesson with him on Thursday! He and Randy immediately became best friends, talking all about growing up her in WV and everything! The lesson was interesting. Sister Livingston and I planned to teach The Gospel of Jesus Christ message. We started and ended the lesson but the inbetween part was just Tony, Randy and Joyce talking, with Sister Livingston and I giving our two cents every once in a while. But with all his happening somehow in someway they still covered the points of the lesson! Faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. It was so cool!!! The conversation just naturally flowed in that way. Tony bore his testimony on the Book of Mormon. The Spirit was definitely present as he did. We invited him to be baptized and he enthusiastically said, "Sure!" We had a phone call lesson with him Friday evening and talked it all over with him. He still has a far way to go but we are excited to help him along!!

Ashley and Donald are amazing!!! We finished teaching them the Plan of Salvation message last Monday. We talked a lot about the Temple and forever Families! They really loved hearing and learning about it. We met with them again on Saturday and Sister Sheely, a member from the ward, joined us! We had planned to do part of the Restoration but halfway through the Spirit directed us to continue on with it, so we taught all of it! Sister Sheely added so much to it! I am so grateful she was there. She has a powerful testimony of this Gospel and it brought the Spirit so strongly! We invited them to begin reading the Book of Mormon and invited them to church! They already had plans but asked us to remind them again next week!! We are praying they can come on Sunday!!

Song of the Week: "Never Give Up" by for King and Country. Oh man. Never give up!! It was a great, hard, exhausting, fun week. I had to keep reminding myself to not give up. We had dinner with a nice couple on Thursday. The husband basically said that 150-200 years ago the field was white but now there's not much left. It kinda hurt when he said that. My whole life I've been told the field IS white! And now I have the chance to give my all each and everyday to this amazing work of the Lord. I'm not going to give up, even if others have. I know that there are still people out there looking and searching for the truth. As we give all we have and are to the Lord, He will magnify our efforts and direct our paths to those who need this message. I'm so very grateful to be here in West Virginia serving Him and these people. I know Jesus Christ is my Savior. I know Heavenly Father knows me.

I hope everyone has an exciting week! Talk to y'all next Monday!

Love,

Sister Sariah Francis

Pictures!!!