Week #71

Family and Friends, 

I hope you all have had a wonderful week! Sorry for the last couple of weeks. With all of the holiday fun, I didn’t have time to write a group email! If you wanted to know Florida gets cold... it gets really really cold! Like Utah cold! Except for it is humid so when you step outside it goes straight through your jacket and to your bones! Good thing it lasts for only a week, then we’re up and rolling without jackets again! 

It has been fun to set goals individually and as a companionship for 2018! With the passing of President Monson, I have been reflecting on the things that he has taught me. One of my favorite President Monson quotes is “Find joy in the journey NOW. There is no tomorrow if we don’t do something today.” What is the point of going through the motions of life? Life is meant to be enjoyed, and he taught and showed us all that!  He was someone who taught me what it means to follow the spirit. I love that President Monson always acted on his first prompting. He was a doer of the work and not a hearer only! I love that man and will miss him dearly! 

The work here in Citrus Ridge continues to progress. We have thee most amazing ward members. We have been working really closely with Sister McGarian, who is our relief society president, to visit the inactive Sisters in our ward. We have 119 inactive Sisters who no one has met... We have two Sister companionship’s and so we split up the list between the companionships and have been tackling trying to figure out who these sisters are. 

Saturday morning we had a lesson scheduled with Elsie! Her phones wasn’t working so we decided we wanted to Skype instead... well her Skype wasn’t working either. You could say we were having some technical difficulties! So we decided to call her and talked with her over the phone. We haven’t had much contact with her because she had been traveling for the holidays. As we discussed where she was in the Book of Mormon she told us that she didn’t really understand the purpose of the Book of Mormon and why it was important. Miracle was Sister Smith and I were discussing earlier that morning what it means to liken the scriptures unto ourselves. We counseled together and talked about why the scriptures are important and how we can apply them in our day to day lives! 

Sister Thombs took us after our lesson with Elsie and we went out and tried to visit some of the inactive sisters. The first couple of doors we didn’t have any luck. The last name we had on our list was a little further out in our area. We drove up to this house and knocked on the door. A woman came out and we asked if she was the woman who we were looking for. She told us she was her daughter and was not a member of the church. Her mom lived next door and actually came out and started talking with us. She has been working at Disney on Sundays and hasn’t been able to come to church but told us we could come back and teach her daughter and nonmember husband! Miracles happen! Sister Thombs was really excited. 

I can’t remember if we told you about Brazil, but she was a girl we met right before Christmas. We prayed for someone to let us into their home and these two young girls opened up and let us in. We taught them the whole restoration. Long story short we have a Skype lesson with her and her sister this week! Also, we had some great lessons with a few less actives in our ward and followed the steps in the new Come Follow Me curriculum and their families opened up and shared with us their concerns. I’m telling you councils are inspired! They work and people open up and talk! I know that communication is key! It is incredible to see the miracles Heavenly Father places in our path each day. I challenge you to seek for the miracles and thank Heavenly Father for them! It’s going to be a fantastic year! I love this gospel! I love my Savior! I love being a missionary! 

Much Love, 

Sister Kenzie Graham