I'm Still Here! and HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

 May 19, 2014
  Transfers happened today and Sister Capitan and I are both staying! That was basically expected because the training program is 2 transfers, but it's still stressful until you know for sure.

   Thank you all for your pictures, emails, and letters. They are always full of encouragement and love. Dad--I can't believe you only have 8 days of work left! Do you think this new calling will keep you busy enough? I guess if you have a ton of spare time, you could pick up where Grandma left off with indexing names, right? :)

   Side note: I heard that Celestial got married! Can anyone solidify this information for me?

   The longer that I'm in this area, the more connections I find! Yesterday, we were sitting in Sacrament Meeting, and one of the speakers (from a different ward) looked SO familiar. It was driving me nuts.  Then, when he got up to introduce himself, he said he just got back from a mission in Dallas!! WHAAAA?  I went up and asked him about where he had served, and he totally knows the Nelsons! His name is Elder Bobby White (I think), but he said you would know him as the Tiffany gloves guy.... I don't know. Is that ringing any bells?  Let me know. He said to tell you "Hi".

   We had a pretty crazy experience this week, too.  We were walking to an appointment, when all of the sudden, this red car stops right in front of us and starts backing up pretty fast.  A lady jumps out and says pretty urgently, "Are you the missionaries for the LDS church?"  We were kind of nervous as to what she wanted, but we said, "yes."  She proceeded to tell us an experience that she had last fall when she was told unexpectedly to move out of her house. The family and friends that she was counting on to pull through for her didn't, and the only people that showed up to help was a couple of mormon missionaries and about 30 strangers from the church.  She said that beside her daughter, it was the biggest blessing she had ever received, and she actually teared up when describing it.  We were so grateful to get in contact with her and invite her to learn more about why we do things like that.  She is such a special person.  

Anyway! Love you all :) 

Sister Pratt
 

 

the dead mouse.

 

Flower pot hats

 

 

Chillin' with a Chinchilla

Sister Lizzy in Seattle with Robner

at least there was one bridesmaid at the openhouse!

Elder Riley was there too!

Sister Capitan got to pick up the dead mouse.

fashion statement- flower pot hat.

 

  HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!  May 12, 2014
   Skyping yesterday was a little overwhelming, but so much fun! I LOVE seeing you all. Thank you for your encouragement, support, and prayers.  I love you.

   I've got a Mother's Day video for you to watch! It is a Mormon message that can be found at mormon.org/motherhood  It's pretty great.  Be sure to show your friends :)

   So... I'm realizing this problem I have. For some reason, whenever I start this email to the family, my mind goes completely blank. I have no idea why. I can't remember anything that happened or anything I was going to talk about... I think there's just so much going on, that I can't seem to focus my mind onto any thought or event.  Oh well, here goes. I'll just talk about people. That's easier.

   So last week, Roberta Fry came to church! I don't know if I've ever talked about her before, but she's in her 70s and has been inactive for over 50 years.  Her husband really had a bad experience with the church, so he asked her not to go, and she had to "keep the peace".  Well, last Summer, her husband passed away, and after putting all of his affairs in order, she knew she wanted to come back.  Then, as usual, Satan had to put a wrench in her plan, and the world around her kinda went crazy. We started teaching her in February, and she just barely made it to church!  When the Sacrament Meeting was over, she turned to us with tears in her eyes and sincerely thanked us for helping her come back.  That was a huge moment for me.  I had come to love her so much, and I knew that I had made a difference.  Her next goal is to goal to the temple! Although, she is a slow mover, so that probably won't happen for a while yet.  She really is the sweetest old lady that I've met here.

  Another family we started working with is the Newmans.  They just moved into our ward a couple weeks ago.  It was pretty funny because we were sitting in the last hour of church, and we got a text from Brother Miranda (whom we live with). He said "I have an investigator for you." We also got a text from the Ward Mission Leader that said, "When can I meet with you? I have some good news."  We were so confused.  When we got home, Brother Miranda explained that there was a new family in the ward whose daughter really wanted to be baptized, but she couldn't because her adoption wasn't finalized.  They wanted to know if we would go visit them... that day! We went over right away.  They told us that her adoption was going through at the beginning of May, and they wanted us to start teaching right after that!  I love them so much.  It's great because the daughter isn't getting baptized because her mom is telling her to. She really wants it for herself! She is eager to learn everything.  They are just a stellar family.

   Well, I think I told you all that Mike & Dana moved out of our area. It was pretty sad, but the upside is that we still see them all the time! They love visiting a lot of members of the ward, so we'll just be driving along and see them and stop to talk to them.  2 weeks ago another of our investigators moved to Korea, and this week Another investigator moved to Seattle. It was really sad to see them go--now we're just going to have to focus more on finding.

   Well, I love you all dearly. Write me :)

Sister Pratt
P.S. I met Lorin Walker's mother last week--she gave me a hug from Mom and Dad. TENDER MERCY. It was such a cool coincidence.

 

May 5, 2014

Sorry, but I really don't have time for a letter this week. It's been crazy. 

See you on Sunday.