JayLynn E. Loves

"We received some inspiration

to teach Nick the Restoration.

And now he has the motivation,

to learn about the Plan of Salvation!

He has felt the light

and knows it's right

and now baptism is in his sight!"

(Sister Cluff and I was messin around and came up with this,,ahha we were so excited)

Nick is our new investigator that we found this week!!! We were looking through our old records and decided to try Nick who we saw was once taught by missionaries in the past. We decided to stop by his home after our dinner appointment and he was happy to see us. He said he was meeting with the missionaries before and then all of a sudden they stopped coming. (transfers probably) We asked if we could share a message with him and he said yeah! We stood in his front yard as we taught about the Book of Mormon and the message of the Restoration. He said that everything we said made sense. We asked to come back to teach him the Plan of Salvation and he said absolutely! He said he was glad we came and that he is really interested in what we have to say. Nick is in his 30s and he works as a graphic designer for a company up in Tahoe. He is not religious at all but has been searching for answers. He is what we call a Golden Pineapple. haha which is someone who is super ready and prepared to be taught! But Nick is awesome and we are excited to teach him!

The Restoration!

The Restoration is probably my favorite lesson to teach people! We have 5 total lessons that we are to teach people before baptism. 1)Restoration 2)Plan of Salvation 3)The Gospel of Jesus Christ 4) The Commandments and 5) Laws and Ordinances. I've grown a great understanding and testimony about Joseph Smith, and the Book of Mormon. I also love teaching people about the Great Apostasy which teaches why there came to be so many different churches today. Its crazy to me how everything about the gospel makes total sense. Like how can these things not be true! I love this gospel. I love teaching people about it.

Bill

We were riding our bikes when we saw Bill watering his lawn. We stopped to see if he needed help. He is an older man in his 70s. He said no thanks. We asked if he was religious and he said "No, Im an American!" haha he was started to laugh and then He said he was not familiar with the Mormon church. His wife is a Jehovah Witness and he began to tell us all the stuff they believe in. They don't celebrate fourth of July, or Christmas, or any man made holiday. They don't even celebrate their birthday. He said he would like to have us over but his wife might kill him. haha we were able to share a little bit with him about what we believe. He was super nice.

Richard B

Richard our investigator who is 12 is a golden pineapple! He loves meeting with us! He sets up his own appointments haha its so funny. But we were able to get permission from his father who is Catholic for Him to get baptized!! Richard said he wants us to go really slow with him as we continue teaching the lessons so he can really understand everything!! We love him! He has a powerful testimony and is a great example to his family! I learn so much from him every time we meet with him. This week he asked us a lot of questions such as, how am I geting baptized? Who is baptizing me? What do I wear to get baptized? Will I get in punished if I miss a sunday of not going to church after I get baptized? haha those were only some of his questions but its so cute. He is awesome!

Mel the Hippie.

We met Mel on the street as he was out on his lawn doing yard work. He is an older gentlemen with super long hair and beard. He knew exactly who we were and right of the bat started to tell us that what we were doing was wrong. He said he read the Book of Mormon and God told him it wasn't true. He said that If he were to go on a mission, that he would at least make sure what he was teaching was true. It was a horrible feeling as we were constantly being attacked. It was so hard not to bash. But we kept a smile and just nodded our heads. It got so bad we just started to bike away as he kept tryna talk to us. It was an interesting experience.

Exchanges in Reno!

I got to spend the day in Reno with Sister Tauveli! She is super awesome! We had lots of fun walking in the heat. We met a couple who recently moved to Reno. We ended up giving them 2 copies of the Book of Mormon. It was super fun!

Summer has begun and the heat is getting REAL! This week Sister Cluff and I have been trying to stay out of the sun as much as we can. We don't have AC in our apartment so its been kinda a struggle staying cool. We love the evenings like after 6pm because that is when everyone comes outside because its cooler. We have met soooo many people this week! Its been crazy!

MIRACLE

It was about 90 degrees outside in the afternoon when Sister Cluff and I decided to ride our bikes to go visit a less active member named Chelsea. We were dying in the heat. We finally made it to her house and she wasn't there. :( But her sprinklers were on so we decided to go play in them to cool off. After a while we decided to head back out on our bikes and then Chelsea drove up into her drive way! We were able to see her and we set up another time to come back! It was a miracle!

BERTHA

We went to try a potenial investigator who has been on our records forever. Her name is Samantha. She wasn't home but her family was and they let us in and gave us water. We talked to Samantha's mother for a while. Her name is Bertha and she is super nice. Bertha is from Mexico and recently moved in with her daughter. She told us that she was born and raised Catholic but then decided to search for another church. She really liked the Jehovah Witnesses but then she said they were wierd. So she decided to search for another church. She decided one day to attend a Mormon church and really like it but she wished there was more spanish people. We then were able to tell her that there is actually a Spanish Ward just down the street from her! She was excited and kept asking us more questions about our church. She asked us if we could come back to teach her and she will teach us spanish. It was really cool. We are excited to teach her and we are also excited to learn spanish!

JOHN

We met John as he was fixing his boat in front of his house. He's probably in his 60's. We asked him if we could help but he said no and that Its keeping his mind off of things. We talked for a while about fishing and then all of a sudden he breaks down in tears. He tells us that his best friend recently passed away and that he's been trying not to think about it. He kept crying and then he started walking away from us and went into his house. We felt so bad for him and wanted to share the message of the Plan of salvation with him. We hope to go by his house again and share it with him.

Aw shucks I am out of time to write but so much more has happened this week! I am grateful for all the people that I've met! There are a lot of interesting people. But I love being a missionary and I love this gospel! I hope you all have a great week!

Love Sister Tupuola