Week...uh...8, I think. Oh boy.

I suppose it's not a good thing that I've already forgotten how long I've been out here. Or maybe it is. Oh well. I'm over it.

Greetings y'all from a different Dixie! (Technically, I don't think 'Dixie' is in Lousiana, but I already typed it, plus I think it's kind of catchy, so I'm keeping it!)Life here in the GLBRM is fantabulous! Sister Dansie and I are working hard, and with the Lord's help, we'll see some great miracles---or as Elder Crawford says, "Miricals"---this transfer! We must be doing something right, because already we're facing opposition. But we aren't discouraged; on the contrary, we are now kicking it up a notch! And because we are, the Lord has been so merciful and let us see some small miracles already!
We were blessed this week to find some really amazing new people to teach; the three I'll tell you about are Steve, Becky, and Tesseena.
STEVE:
We met Steve at the post office one night. My wonderful family sent me a package, and Sister Dansie and I were rushing to try and beat the clock, and make it to the post office before it closed. Thankfully, we got there just in time, and as we were standing in line, I asked Sister Dansie what the date was. She couldn't remember (that happens to us missionaries a lot), so she asked the man in front of us. He told us, and we chit chatted about Thanksgiving coming up, etc. Then I picked up my package, and we were headed out the door. The man in front of us was standing off to the side of the door, and he called to us, asking us where we worked. We both grinned, and Sister Dansie explained that we were missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The man started to laugh, and he said that he'd been to our church many times. We started talking to him, and he introduced himself as Steve. Steve was from Jamaica, and had the COOLEST accent! (If I'd ever actually seen Cool Runnings, I could tell you if it was like their accents...but since I haven't, I can't.) We talked to him for about ten minutes, and he told us a little bit about himself. He was so nice! He told us that when he first saw us, he didn't want to talk to us, but something kept poking at him. Sister Dansie later said that she could tell something was up because when we were standing in line, he kept turning around and glancing at us. Steve gave us his information, and we invited him out to church. He told us to call him, and he'd meet us at the church and we could teach him! Yes, he actually said that! He waited until we'd gotten in our car (to make sure we were okay), and then waved to us as we drove away! We had the biggest grins on our faces, and we thanked Heavenly Father for letting us run into Steve.
BECKY:
Saturday, we were out and about, trying to track down some PIs and PFIs. We knocked on Becky's door, and she came right out and started talking to us. She was so nice! She had just had her baby, Gavin, a few weeks ago, so we got to meet him too. She told us that the last time the missionaries had come by, they'd gotten into a disagreement about something, and they hadn't been back since. We went over her concerns, and she was really fun to talk to. She is a science teacher, so a lot of her questions were from that angle, but we managed to answer them all to her satisfaction, thanks to the Holy Ghost! She told us that she would definitely read the Book of Mormon, and that the next time we came by, she'd have more questions for us. She was really nice and outgoing, and there is something special about her, I think. I'm excited to go back and see her this week!
TESSEENA:
Ah, Tesseena! We actually met her right after I came out to Louisiana. She was really nice, and we gave her a pamphlet, and she gave us her phone number, and then.....nothing. We couldn't get a hold of her, she wasn't home when we tried to see her, nothing. So yesterday, Sister Dansie said, "Let's just go try again." So we did...AND SHE WAS HOME! She invited us in, and we taught her about the Restoration. She seemed pretty interested. We gave her a Book of Mormon, and she told us that she'd read it too. We gave her our number again, and told her about some things going on in the ward that she might like. We set up a return appointment, and she seemed genuinely happy to have us come back.
So you see? If we do our part, the Lord backs us up one hundred percent...and then some!

Well, that's all for now, folks! Until next week---

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister Pedersen