It was truly and amazing week in the mission field for me. First of all I think I am really starting to love the people here in Tennessee. While many of them might not have jobs (or teeth) they'll do anything for you. It is pretty funny because even though they disagree with what we are saying when we offer to help them with anything they always offer the same thing back.
It was nice this week because we got to teach a lot of different people and seeing them change is amazing. We are teaching one investigator that is really struggling with health issues right now. He normally has a couple seizures a day and has the beginnings of cerebral palsy but even with these challenges he said that he would be at church next Sunday as long as he was alive. We didn't even have to commit him to come. He just decided that it was the next step that he needed to take. It truly is amazing to see how the gospel can change and really humble a man.
So after two weeks I got to participate in Rockwood's first baptism in at least a couple of months if not almost a year. My companion baptized the Beyer family. Jeremy the father was a Baptist preacher who had been teaching straight out of the Bible and read it a little different than those around him. He was actually reading the Bible right! He had been searching for a long time for the true gospel and it happened that he came across two missionaries walking down the road and he decided to stop them. Six weeks later he and his family are members of Christ's restored gospel. He loves the Book of Mormon already and his copy looks like it has been used for ten years. Not because of neglect but because he has been studying it like crazy. We plan on having him help us teach a lot of other investigators and I think he will be an awesome addition to the Rockwood Branch.
Now here comes the stories that I have been waiting for and know will be happening all the time. The first is about an investigator that we have taught and turned over to the sisters. He really wanted to know if what we were saying is true but he didn't know for a 100% yet. Then one night in the last week he had a dream and his deceased wife came to him in a dream and told him that she was glad that he was meeting with the missionaries (which she mentioned by name) and she couldn't wait till he was baptized and he was sealed to her (which we or the sisters hadn't even mentioned yet). I didn't think things happened like this often but I have learned that when someone really wants to know, God will go through whatever is necessary to accomplish His work.
The next story is when we were tracting in a pretty sketchy neighborhood and we were walking down a long driveway. I noticed a tire with a rock sitting in the middle of it and a big ol' chain going to somewhere, about that time we here a growl and before I even saw this hellhound. I was almost at the end of the driveway. I look back and my companions are way back there and see this elephant dog barking at the end of it's chain and the fear of god in my companions' eyes. That maybe a little dramatized but I know one thing for sure I would've been safe.
The last is about a lemon and lime joke which is hilarious but ya'll (yes, I can use that now) will have to wait for two years to hear that one.
Thanks so much for the package. It is good to hear that the Lord is blessing us on both ends. I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve in Tennessee. My companion says, "the lord sends boys foreign to make them men, men stateside to make them leaders, and leaders to the south to make them scholars." I get to do all three and while that may seem strange, I can tell you one thing, you have to know your Bible in the south. I love you all so much and pray for you guys every night.
Love,
Elder Saueressig
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