Week 14/15 August July 31 - Aug 10

NORTH CAROLINA MISSIONARIES

Elder Martin and I are so blessed to be in this beautiful part of the USA! We serve in Leland in North Carolina which is an area covered in trees! It is very hot but very beautiful! 

NEW SISTER - SISTER SMOOT

Sister Smoot (Highland) is a new transfer to Wilmington and Sister Sally who only has two weeks left on her mission before she heads home to Hawaii.

NEW SISTER - SISTER STREETMAN

Sister Donaldson's new companion is Sister Streetman (Arizona).

NEW ELDERS

Two new Elders - Elder Jones on the left is from Centerville in Utah and Elder Peseta is from Hawaii.

RUTH DIAZ

We are teaching a wonderful lady, Ruth Diaz, who lives in our apartment complex. She is very religious and interested in what the Elders are teaching her. We have given her two lessons and have an appointment for a third lesson this Saturday.

"P-Day"

We had lunch at a new Provision Company restaurant. It is at Supply, a city near to Southport. We drove over a beautiful bridge as we crossed the Inter Coastal Waterway. This waterway winds its way all the way down to Florida!

YACHT BASIN

The Provision Company is in a yacht basin with many beautiful boats tied up on the river.

LUNCH AT PROVISION COMPANY RESTAURANT

Nancy, Peggy and me in the restaurant. It is an open air area where you can enjoy the cool sea breeze while you eat. I had the yellow fin tuna salad again. It is always delicious.

HOLDEN BEACH

After lunch we sat on Holden Beach for an hour or so to enjoy the Atlantic Ocean and all the holiday makers swimming and jumping over the waves. I picked up a few "clam" shells on the beach. Peggy and Nancy on the right and Lane on the left. We sat under the umbrella as the sun was very hot.

SUNSHINE, SEA AND SAND

Lane and me enjoying the sunny weather at the beach.

DISTRICT MEETING

We had fun at District Meeting doing role plays. The different groups had to pretend that they were meeting investigators at the "bus stop", "eating snow cones", "walking the dog" and a group "hanging out".

ELDERS ROLE PLAYING

Elder Jones being approached by Elder Chiu and Rawlins.

SISTERS ROLE PLAYING

Sister Donaldson and Streetman contacting Elder Rawlins walking his "dog".

GROUP HANG OUT

This was a group of "university students" hanging out and being confronted by Elder Jones and Peseta.

MISSIONARY WORK

We are working with the Elders to teach a lady called Ruth Diaz who lives in our apartment complex. She is Spanish speaking and has taught Spanish in the North Carolina schools for many years. Her English is very good although she has a broad Spanish accent. She is now retired. She has always been religious and comes from a religious family. She attends one of the Evangelical churches at the moment. She has had contact with Mormons during her teaching career and was impressed by what they had to say, so she knows a little about our religion. When the missionaries presented the Plan of Salvation she was so excited and said she had learned things she had been wondering about for 35 years! She is reading the Book of Mormon and had some questions for us about the Book of Moroni. The Elders have given her an English and Spanish copy of the BOM. We have a third meeting with her this coming Saturday. We have also been visiting with another young lady who has been inactive since she was a teenager. She has had some great struggles in her life but has found her way back to the Savior. She now attends the Methodist Church. We had a good 2 hour meeting with her, going over the apostasy and restoration, and will continue to visit with her to discuss the fullness of the restored gospel. The Elders and Lane and I had a delicious dinner with Danny and Tammy Skipper this past week. We really enjoy going to members for dinner as we get to know the family on a "one on one" basis and develop a closer relationship with them. 

One thing Elder Martin and I have come to realize is that there are so many people struggling with children who have no desire to attend church or follow the Savior. Many have been raised in the gospel, completed Seminary etc. but just want to go their own way. It is so sad as we know the importance of our choices are going to affect our eternal lives. President Monson has said that this life is our ONE SHOT at mortality. This is our final exam before judgement and our choices are critical. 

Moses 1:39
For behold, this is my work and my glory - to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.