First Baptism

This week we had the opportunity to see Burt, Cindy, and Chris Young be baptized and confirmed. It is so amazing to see how much the gospel really can change lives. It is also cool to see how even though Satan does all he can to stop the work from progressing, the Lord is always one step ahead of him. The snow was pretty bad on Saturday, but luckily there were snow plows and the roads were pretty clear and the snow cleared up right as we were leaving to go to the baptism and started back up after we got there. The power was also out at the church, but the power company was able to get out pretty quickly and get half of the lights back on, which is all we really needed. The power of prayer is real. The number of baptisms definitely isn't as important as how many people have been invited to change and come unto Christ, but it definitely is super cool to see the fruits of our labor. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to be out here and see that as I open my mouth and share the gospel with others and have the Holy Ghost with me when doing so, anything is possible. I have already learned so much and it is so weird to think that my training will be up in 2 weeks, I am excited to see what more there is to come and see the changes the gospel brings in myself and others.
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So I never got to send you a picture form the temple, here ya go! It is a very tiny temple. The snow was super bad/blizzardy so I didn't get a great picture.  

So we found some nerf guns in our apartment... that was fun

 There are awesome "Pittsburghese" shirts that have common words or phrases so of course I had the get one. Also the Learning the Language section open in PMG haha.  

The weather was TERRIBLE on the way to the baptism... also the power was out at the church but all was well, the power came back and we had a baptism!!!! Sister Talbot and I by the font. 

Burt, Cindy and Chris Young. They are super awesome people. One with all 3 of us who first started teaching them, and just Sis Talbot and I, and one with Elder May who baptized them. 

Our ward does singles FHE every Sunday and the missionaries go, yesterday we had homemade pizza so we had to have the aprons.. haha

 

Weekly

I am definitely learning a LOT! A lot about the gospel, about myself, and about other people. I am very blessed to have this opportunity to be a missionary. I hope that when the time on my mission comes to the end that I can see a change and that others can see a change for the better. The gospel is seriously just awesome and it all makes sense. Of course it is not easy to be a missionary, but it wasn't easy for Christ, and shouldn't expect it to be dealing with salvations and all. But this week was good! we are trying to visit a lot more less active members and also getting more members out with us on lessons. Burt, Cindy and Chris (who are getting baptized on the 21 of this month) are AWESOME! They are super excited and when little things get in the way such as drinking coffee they let us know that they aren't going to miss the blessings for anything like that. It is so awesome to see people changing because of the gospel and example of Jesus Christ. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day saints is the true church. Other churches are super amazing and awesome, and I love learning more about other religions, but I know that the fullness of the gospel has been restored through the prophet Joseph Smith. My testimony of the gospel is growing each and every day and I am very excited to see what the next 16 months hold in store!

 We take weird pictures.. Also pictures before the transfer meeting.

 Sis Palmer then Sis Talbot. That trio was a blast!

Most of those were from FHE. The singles in the ward do FHE every Sunday

 Random pictures... NOt sure why Im sending them all..

Oh and I also got a haircut, just a little trim. 

 Today for Pday we got a car wash and went bowling

Pictures of our district (except for the guy in the middle) also our table during weekly planning, and there was a SUPER cool moon and this picture does no justice.. it was a harvest moon I think?

We took some pictures on our way up to district meeting in Wintersville, OH. Thats "big Bertha"...

Pictures of the Ohio river, You can see Ohio and West Virginia in the pictures (we were on the OH side)

The simple truths

This week was pretty good! We are now back to just Wheeling and it's back to just Sister Talbot and me. I absolutely loved the opportunity to work both areas, even though it was hard. We were able to do a lot and gain a lot of new in sight from that area. I want to make sure we keep up the hard work and that I don't fall back into my old ways of not speaking up! Its kinda weird how that worked, when there were more of us, I talked more, but I felt like I kinda just had to speak up to share my testimony with people. I have definitely learned a lot so far on my mission about the simple truths, and how simple but awesome the gospel is. Yeah it can get deep if you search for it, but it doesn't have to be! I have been trying to focus a lot more on gaining that strong knowledge of those simple things we teach, because those people that we teach have never heard the gospel before. Our investigators are also doing awesome. Burt, Cindy, and Chris are still scheduled to be baptized the 21 of this month and it is awesome to see how the Lord has been preparing them and we are just here to assist in helping them grow. I definitely understand when people have said you really learn to love the people on your mission. I have loved getting to see the change that the gospel of Jesus Christ has on peoples lives. I am very grateful to be a member of this church and for the opportunity to spread the gospel especially here on the mission.

Oh yeah, I also had a cool experience with the Book of Mormon this morning. So, we are encouraged in Preach my Gospel to continue to grow our testimony on the truth of the Book of Mormon by following the promise in Moroni 10:3-5 (click on scripture for link), so I prayed this morning to know that the Book of Mormon was true before beginning my personal study, while reading in D&C 17:6 "And he translated the book, even that part which I have commanded him, and as your Lord and your God liveth it is true." So that was pretty cool. I know that as people are willing to read The Book of Mormon with an open heart and mind, and then pray to know if it is true, that anyone can gain a testimony of the truthfulness of the church. I am so glad we have the Book of Mormon to learn and to grow and to help others who are not members of the church to know that it is true.

Pictures:

There were some cool icicles so I took pictures, also there was a house up in Washington that half was torn apart and the other half looked nice. We also are only supposed to go 1000 miles every month, we stopped at exactly 1000 for a dinner appointment on Saturday... and then we had to drive home sooo we were soo close! Only 11 over! (compared to the 198 last month....

These are pics from my comps camera.. 

Sister Yates

 White Squirrel