June 30th, 2014

Dear All,

We started reading the Book of Mormon to a older nonmember man we visit and do service for on Tuesdays. He has had missionaries come to his home, with all sorts of approaches, for the last 15 years but the timing hasn't and isn't right for him yet. He was unusually quiet as we read 1 Nephi 1 to him. He would ask clarification on words once in a while but other than that he  just listened. The Spirit was invited as we read and we recognized  an effect of this was that he started to open up a bit about his concerns. We held our breath. For the last while EVERYONE has tried to get out of him what his biggest hang up  is in joining the church. We want to know so we can understand him better and maybe address those concerns. But the build up he took us on flopped to another subject suddenly, just on the verge of his deepest concern, and we were left hoping that one day he will trust someone to tell them. We know how much this church means to us and we want him to feel the blessings too. He seems to like us pretty well anyway, he tried to hug us and we politely declined.

We had a good lesson with a less active couple that we teach. We gave them the option to do the 10 commandments by reading the scriptures or doing the hand signs. They wanted to do the hand signs, so we taught them, discussed them and they began to laugh and enjoy themselves. At the end of the lesson the Sister, who normally doesn't say much, asked timidly if we could talk about the Priesthood next time. We assured her we will prepare accordingly. Sister McIntire and I left glad that they were able to feel comfortable enough with us to request a lesson according to their needs.

Zone Training Meeting set us on fire! It was just the right balance of strictness and love. We set goals in the meeting to have 30 baptism in July within our zone and we all believe we can do it! After leaving this meeting Sister McIntire and I set goals as a companionship and set right to doing one thing they suggested in the meeting: clean up our area books.  From our clean up, we came up with a list of 10 individuals that neither of us knew. So we planned to contact as many as possible for the rest of the week. By Sunday we had contacted all but one. Among those we contacted were recent converts who are going strong, a recent convert that was very cold toward us, and less actives that their families told us are hardly ever home. One recent convert in particular we are going to try to contact again in a couple weeks because he is going through a martial problem and his mother thought it was best if we waited a while but loved that we were concerned about her son.

Our coordination meeting Thursday night was awesome! Brother Zaldivar, the high councilor over missionary work, laid out plainly what he wanted to see happening in this meeting and the senior missionary couple and my companion and I add where appropriate. We all could feel and caught the missionary spirit as we discussed changes to improve coordination meeting. The Ward Mission Leaders seemed to feel that the suggestions were a more evenly distributed weigh on all of our shoulders then a weight that was shifted to one person to another. So many of them perked up or seemed more at ease then normal at our suggestions and the Spirit testified to all of us that this was an important work and an important change. As a result we more easily spoke of actions and activities this coming week or two and what we can do to help our Brothers and Sisters. It was was a sweet experience, a result of striving to more fully follow President Thomas S Monson admonition in October 2013: "Now is the time for members and missionaries to come together, to work together, to labor in the Lord’s vineyard to bring souls unto Him. He has prepared the means for us to share the gospel in a multitude of ways, and He will assist us in our labors if we will act in faith to fulfill His work."

As a companionship we made a lip-sync video to show our zone at our activity happening today. It should be loads of fun to see everyone's goofy, talented side!

We had a meeting with a Sister that was pretty amazing, on Saturday. We began with small talk and as we invited the Spirit, with the atmosphere we established, this dear Sister opened up to us about what she is struggling with. We listened and made suggestions and comfort. Yet again another experience of how the Spirit helps us to find great treasures of knowledge. How wonderful is our God!

It has been a good week. It is always nice to reflect on my week and notice how God is in the very fabric of our lives and the lives of others! God is good! He loves us!

Happy(almost) Fourth of July! Have fun,

Sister Sarah Meldrom