Choosing to be on the Lord's side

Dear Family

I just finished having the chance to read Erin's talk that she sent to me, a talk that she had given in ward conference. It made me think of several of the young people we are working with personally and such choices they are making. One of these people is our investigator, Lindsey Hale. She is struggling with whether or not to be baptized although she has a lot of opposition at home. We are trying to help her to have enough faith and trust in the Lord that things will work out for her, so that she can feel confident to be baptized. We don't know yet how it will work out, but we are doing what we can to help her choose to be on the Lord's side. It also reminded me of Jeremy Strabbing, one of our students. Jeremy was inactive until a few months ago. He comes from a less active family, and hadn't been to church for quite some time. When the branch president got his name that he had moved into the dorms at WMU, he called Jeremy and said, "Hey guy, we need you here. Come and join us." Jeremy came and we saw him at church and invited him to come to an institute class. He showed up one day and sat and listened to the lesson. Now he comes every time and comes to three of our institute classes. He is now the ward clerk. Our challenge continues for him. He has chosen to walk on the Lord's side the past few months, and to become active. In the D&C class we have the opportunity of teaching Jeremy one on one, since he is usually the only one who shows up. It is great to teach him personally, and to have him stay after class for an hour or so just to chat about what is on his mind. He received his patriarchal blessing a couple of weeks ago and it was a very spiritual experience for him. Our challenge now is to try to get him to go on a mission. Then I was reminded of Sara Carmany. Sara has a disability that is much like Autism. We are able to teach Sara one on one on Thursday nights. We pick her up at here apartment and drive her to the institute where we have a D&C class for her. We have had her in other classes, but she is shy and is intimidated by the other students so she doesn't talk much. However, in our one on one class she is talking all the time. She knows a lot about the gospel and is really good at answering our questions. She had a great spirit in her, and we enjoy hearing her discuss what the church means to her. She has really come out of her shell and is a great friend. We have a couple of mugs of hot chocolate with her, then take her back home. She likes to stay after and talk with us and to play games. That is just three of the stories of people we are working with and of the lives that we are involved with on our mission. We love working with them and enjoy the opportunity to try to strengthen each one of them. Dad