Week 74 (9/1/14)

Get ready for a really focused churchy email this week :)

It's gonna be good.

As we were teaching Nathaniel this week he said something really

amazing- he said that as he has been living the gospel he has found

out that it was true.

When he was baptized, he said that he was taking a leap of faith, and

knew that this was all good, but didn't really understand it all. But

now that he has been living it, he told us his testimony has been

growing and he knows more and more that all of this is true!

His new phrase- "you just gotta live it!"

That's what he's been telling all his friends so that he can share

what he knows now :) ahhhh he's the greatest!

As I was reading the talk "Be Ye Converted" there was a part that

totally reminded me of Nate! It says-

"Conversion to gospel principles comes through righteously living the

principles of the gospel and being true to our covenants with the

Lord."

I really do know that is how we gain our testimonies! It's been so

amazing to see him progress and see this amazing ward take him in and

help him. In a couple weeks he will be going to the temple for the

first time and perform the baptism for his dad. He's SO excited!!!

The very first point in the first lesson is- "God is our loving

Heavenly Father". This week I feel like that's been the theme. Our

recent convert ended up in the hospital. His wife (who's not a member)

doesn't really know how to cook, so we went over and cooked her dinner

(yeah,,, we're in the south and she wanted tried chicken so that's

what we made her of course) one night and were planning on doing it

every night, but our other convert who's their friend ended up taking

her to her house to take care of her. But we've been teaching her

every single day since he was put in the hospital.

Her confidence in herself is really low, it's really sad to see :( so

Sister Shaumkel and I decided we needed to build it right up! Because

really, that's the first point of the lessons!! And our purpose as

representative of Jesus Christ.

For one of the lessons we did something I remember from young women's

a long time again. I remember Sister Delis (our stake presidents wife

and our really good friend) talked to all of us at camp. She told a

story of a girl she knew and how she built her confidence. She wasn't

the prettiest, and people made fun of her, but she knew who she was.

And that's all that really matters!

Every single night she would yell out her door-

"I AM WONDERFUL!!!!"

So, of course, I told her that story, and we gave her the commitment

to do that every night and so would we. :)

She told us the next day that her and Mary Nell did it together twice

outside. It was really cute :)

We have seen her confidence grow since we've been teaching her who she

is, and who our Savior is, because that is ultimately how we come to

know ourselves.

I also had a family that I was teaching before our ward split that

committed to being baptized!!!!!!!!!! I am SO excited for them! We

just passed them off to the elders and I think it helped a lot that

that they both are fluent in Spanish which is what the parents speak.

Family baptism :) best. Day. ever.

I got to see one of my favorite mission families today (Sister Leicht

don't worry, you guys are still on that list too;))!!!!! We went to

Hammock State Park and had a picnic. It was honestly one of he best

pdays ever! I miss them so much and loved hanging out with Maggie and

Brother and Sister Williams! It made me SO happy :) Maggie even gave

me the other half of a best friend heart necklace with a fish on it

because we love mermaids and the ocean :) sweetest thing EVER! I

cannot even explain the love I have for all these people I've met!!!!

:D

I love you all! Thank you for your continued support and

encouragement! It means a lot!!!!

Love, Sister Nicole Calder :) (the true Floridian)