"We see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in...his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy....

"We see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in...his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever Amen." Alma 26:37

Hello,

This week was a great week! Thanksgiving was a wonderful day and I will remember this Thanksgiving forever. We woke up to a text from one of our investigators and he said that as he was reading the book of Mormon God spoke to him. We weren’t sure what he meant so we asked him to explain. He said that as he was reading he just felt at peace. We were so happy that he finally felt the spirit as he was reading. He said he wanted to come to church Sunday! We were so happy!

So we had our first thanksgiving meal with Ryla one of our investigators. We went with her mom and son to their friends home in Fayetteville. When we got there everyone welcomed us to their little family. They were all very nice! They of course were asking lots of questions which we didn’t mind at all. We ended up getting a women's name and address. She said we could stop by sometime. So that was exciting! We had a very traditional thanksgiving dinner which made me happy! Me and sister Gifford were really careful to watch our portions because we knew we would be going to another dinner. We thought we would be eating our first dinner at 3 so it would give us time to get ready for the next one, but they ended up eating later like 4:30. So we were a little worried. We left and headed to our next thanksgiving appointment. Round two was with some members in the ward. When we got there the Elders were already there and you could tell by the look on their faces they were just as full as us. They had also come from another appointment. The members kept bringing out more and more food. I was getting worried. So we all sat down to eat and they tell us that we pass our plates around and dish each other’s plate so I had no control over what they put on my plate. Sadly the dinner was so painful I was trying so hard to finish, but towards the end every bite I took I thought I might throw up. Haha I was looking at the Elders across the table and they were going through the same thing. I thought they were going to fall over. It was pretty funny! There is a saying .."there is always room for dessert” NO…there isn’t! I couldn’t even eat the pie and I love pie. It was painful! It was fun though and it was a great Thanksgiving! After we left I told sister Gifford I never want to eat food ever again! The next morning was probably the hardest it has ever been for me to get up. We didn’t eat the whole next day. Let’s just say it was a memorable day! I love Thanksgiving and it was one that I will always remember!

We had a cool experience this week we were looking up former investigators. We knocked on this door and the person we were looking for wasn’t home but her mother was. She was so nice and let us in and we started teaching her the first lesson. She was telling us all these things about how hard life has been with her granddaughter and family members dying. She even told us that she has been wanting to do family history. One right after another we didn’t know where to start we had so many answers to her questions. It was kind of funny! We were so happy that the Lord had led us to her. We have been praying to find some new investigators. We made sure to say a prayer after the lesson to thank the Lord for lettings us find her. We can’t wait to teach her again! I love missionary work!

This week was a great week and I did think of my family at home in Estes, but I’m so happy that I was here in New York for Thanksgiving. Its amazing how these people I just met 3 months ago welcome us into their lives and in their homes. These experiences will only happen on my mission. I’m so happy that I’m here!

Love Sister Stacey