Sorry! I accidentally sent send! Elder Ballard said:

 

`I invite all members, regardless of your current calling or level of activity in the Church, to obtain a copy of Preach My Gospel... Read it, study it, and then apply what you learn to help you understand how to bring souls to Christ through invitation and follow-up... There are practical ways for members to help and support our missionaries. For example, you can tell the missionaries that you are studying Preach My Gospel and ask them to show you what they are learning in their studies... Brothers and sisters, can you imagine the impact if family and friends included things they are learning from their personal study of Preach My Gospel in their letters and emails to their full time missionaries?´

 

Well, I invite you guys to get Preach My Gospel and get crackin´! I want to hear what you guys are learning, and I hope you share that with the ward/stake missionaries and full-time missionaries when you get a chance!

 

Have a wonderful week. Until next time,

 

Sister Derrick

 

P.S. Oh! I forgot to mention that... I´m officially trunky! A week ago I got my 12 notice call. I will return on December 9th. :(

 

On Mon, Sep 22, 2014 at 6:00 PM, Elizabeth Derrick <elizabeth.derrick@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Dear Everyone,

 

This week was really strange, but it was good all the same. There is a woman in the ward whose name is Maria Chaves. She´s in her late 70´s, I think, and was baptized 30 years ago with her kids, but her husband never joined the Church. She invited us over to her house this week. We thought that we were going to have a lesson with her and her husband, so we got excited about completing her family! Alas, when we arrived her husband just shook our hands and left for the other room, telling us not to bother him. But Maria showed us a whole bunch of family pictures, particularly of her Granddaughter Raquel. She thought that we looked like twins! So she called up all her relatives so that I could talk to them, she gave us 4 table cloths (our future wedding gifts), a roasted chicken and a kilo of cheese and crackers to take home! It was quite the surprise! She calls me `Raquel´ now and everytime we talk, she starts crying. Oh, and did I mention that she tried to line me up  with her grandson that is a BYU student? What a day!

 

We fasted on Wednesday. It was a really powerful one. We fasted to help prepare 3 people for baptism. We don´t care if they get baptized now or later, but we fasted to find 3 elects. We actually marked Kinita, an investigator since a few transfers ago, for the 27th! We´ve been finding some good new investigators as well, which gets these people one step closer to the Lord! We also fasted for Sister Caldwell. That poor thing is going home next Tuesday. It´s been emotional for us both to only have her for one more week. I pray that she has a wonderful time turning the page and starting a new chapter in her life. We also fasted for Anne Marie. From what I heard last week she wasn´t doing well, so I thought it would be good to include her in the fast. I love fasting. Man, two years ago I dreaded fasting, but now I love it. Truly every one of my heartfelt fasts have been answered. I don´t doubt this one will be answered as well.

 

We had a lunch appointment with a member neighbor of ours and had also another surprising service opportunity. Her name is Cecília and she is really cute, but got in an accident at the beginning of the year. It has been a long and slow recovery for her, but miraculously she can walk and function just fine. She´s a widow and sometimes we pass by just to see how she´s doing since she´s kind of lonely. Well, she´s not flexible enough to clip her own toenails, so I clipped them for her. I tell you, it was a WAR to clip that lady´s toenails. It took like 20 minutes because they were so long and thick. Man, I better get some points in heaven for that! Ha!

 

On a more serious note, I have had some really fruitful studies this week. I have a goal to finish all the April 2014 General Conference talks before the October Conference comes around. I´m so close! I found a little gem I wanted to share with you all. In Elder Ballard´s talk, he reviewed his last talks (they´re about the name of the Church and missionary work) and talked about how important it is for us to follow up with the Lord´s work. Invite and follow up on how the progress is going afterwards! He had invited us to invite someone else to come closer to Christ. Then he said: