Email August 4, 2014

Hey yall! Ok so I'm going to start with the sad/frustrating part first. So Mr. K came to church again and talked to us and he was like "Why haven't you guys come by to visit me as friends?" and we said we aren't supposed to visit as friends, we're here to bring people closer to Christ so we have to teach whenever we come to see someone. He points his finger at Sister Haws and is like "You are the reason I'm not getting baptized, think about what you've done." and without another word he walks away. We were standing there with our mouths open being like did that just really happen? He made her cry and she does NOT cry! it was bad but the thing that makes me more mad is everyone in the ward is on his side because they don't see him saying that stuff to us. It makes me kind of mad because he's saying how much pressure he's having to be baptized but we haven't seen him in weeks and everyone is like "No Mr. K it's ok, you don't have to be baptized." What? since when does the gospel apply to everyone except Mr. K? Ugh it's frustrating, anyway so after church we met with all the Elders and our ward mission leader Bro. Budd to discuss what to do. Everyone was still on Mr. K's side until Elder Humphreys was like "He needs to understand everything, he's just making up excuses not to be baptized. The sisters are right we need to do something." We were like Thank you! He totally had our backs which was nice. So we decided to have Elders start teaching him because right now he's completely converted to the sisters and not the gospel so we've been praying and I think that's the best thing for him right now. All I'm focused on is him finding the truth for himself, because I know how strong of a person he would be in this gospel. We also had Marge come to church which was awesome! She's only come to church once since I've been in Riverview but she came yesterday and it like totally made my day, she's the best! I also got a letter from Sister Mickelsen, she's still in Roseville can you believe it? she's doing awesome there, she's gotten like 3 baptisms so the work is really growing. She also told me that she's teaching Genna again! Ahhh I'm super happy, I knew they would find the truth haha she said Genna's doing really well and Glenn is progressing too which is amazing. We were also able to get the whole Rennie family to church too! The mom, dad and Maya only came to sacrament but Amber and Becky and her boyfriend all stayed the whole time! Whooo it's awesome! We also had a cool moment with Amber who's the oldest. Anyway apparently she was drinking a couple days ago and when she came to church she felt really guilty and she started crying so we followed her outside and talked to her for a long time. We told her that the amazing thing about the gospel is that the love Heavenly Father has for his children is never ending no matter what we've done. I told her that I've made a lot of mistakes in my life and made some bad decisions that I regret but because of the love and mercy of Christ I was able to repent and come on a mission and I told her that I knew he would be able to forgive her for what she's done but the hardest part is forgiving yourself. I told her as soon as she forgave herself she would feel so much better and Sister Haws bore her testimony of the Atonement and of how she went less active and the spirit was really strong. It was an amazing experience, I love seeing what the gospel can do to people, it can completely change someone. I also got a blessing from Elder Humphreys because I was having a hard time with homesickness and stuff and the blessing was incredible! Sister Haws wrote it down for me so I could always have it because he said some stuff that completely changed my whole way of thinking, he also said things that nobody knows at all except me and Heavenly Father, it was crazy! He's super in tune with the spirit, he's kind of a big deal haha he's a boss! We're also doing a district activity today whooo! We're going bowling it'll be super fun. Anyway I know that Heavenly Father is real and that he listens to our prayers, He lives and watches each and every one of us. I hope you guys have an amazing week! love you! Sister Gordon