MAY 20, 2013

Hello :)

I am emailing very late today, we have had a very hectic P-day. We moved from the Cannons house to our new apartment. It was sad!! It felt like saying goodbye to my mom again haha. I love the Cannon family so much, they've been good to us. My new address is:

1321 Old Jesup Rd

Brunswick, GA 31525

Don't send mail to the old place!

Our new apartment is fun, it is kind of nice to have a place to ourselves. I got Grandma Jody's letter, and Tonya's, and mom's and madi's and Brandon's.  I LOVE LETTERS. Thank you so much. I sent replies, but seriously thank you, it lifts me so much.

This week has had amazing days and super hard days. There have been a couple of families that we were really excited to teach and had set appointments with, only to show up at their door and hear them inside telling each other to be quiet so we would go away, or just not answering the door. Ouch. If only they knew what they were missing out on!

Tiger, Quay, and their mom Miss Tracey all came to church this week!! Miss Tracey loved it :) We learned about obedience in Sunday school and she even participated. Then we learned about temples in Relief Society. I leaned over to her and said, "There's a lot of new information you're going to hear, and not all of it is going to make sense right away. That's ok though! It will all come with time and as we continue to teach you and Heavenly Father gives you answers to your prayers." I think that made her feel better. At the end of the lesson, she told us she wanted to go there so bad! She was talking about getting baptized again, although I don't think she fully understands the significance of getting baptized in our church yet but it definitely got me EXCITED to teach her about it!! After relief society she said, "That's the end? I was just getting started!" I don't want to jinx it but I think we will have 3 baptismal dates by the end of this week!! Pray for Tiger and Quay and Tracy please :)

We had a really cool experience during the week that was SO funny. So I think I have mentioned Kembrough before. A little background: He is this black guy that's probably about 65. we have taught him a couple of times, and I extended an invitation for him to be baptized our first week here! He said he would be baptized if God told him he should. He is very very religious and loves the bible.  He has seen a couple of different sets of missionaries and always dodges appointments for himself but will show up for his friend Jeraldine's appointments. He is so funny and is always joking and when he talks fast I can't understand him because of his southern/black accent.

So our appointments all fell through one day. And all our backup appointments then fell through. Sister Divis and I were both so frustrated and didn't want to waste gas and miles, so we pulled over and prayed that we would know where to go. When we opened our eyes, Kembrough is walking around the corner right in front of us. hahaha. Heavenly Father is so funny. He wants to help us so bad! but He waits until we ask for that help to give us those blessings, until we exert our faith. We jump out and yell, "Kembrough!" We told him that our appointments fell through and we didn't know who to talk to. Kembrough said, "Well, just go knock on these doors, tell the people the good word!" He then hid behind a tree as we knocked on doors. We kept looking back at him and he was waving his hand like, "go on!" haha. Then a lady came out on her front porch and Kembrough ran over to her and started talking to her. We were a couple houses away from him and as I looked down the street at him, he motioned his head at us to come over. Sister Divis and I were laughing so hard because he appointed himself to be our third companion. We talked to her on her porch for a second and Kembrough says, "These ladies want to teach you the good word of Jesus, can they come in and have a bible study with you?" hahahaha. He comes in with us, so its the four of us talking about Christ and her relationship with God. Kembrough basically shares his testimony about how the gospel can bring her peace and joy and how she can be with her sister who died again. I was elbowing Sister Divis so hard the whole lesson because I wanted to laugh my head off. Kembrough made a return appointment with her too, for next week. I'm not sure what WE did..

I think that this experience was more for Kembrough then it was for this lady that we talked to.. He came to church on Sunday and really seemed to enjoy himself, although he said that church was too long.. :) Heavenly Father works in mysterious ways. I know that we were inspired to see him so that he could learn and establish his testimony through teaching someone else. 

I love the Savior, and I want to really KNOW Him.  I am drawing near to Him every day and I know that He is drawing nearer and nearer to me. (D&C 88:63) Read it!

Onward, ever onward!! 

I love you family! Talk to you next week. 

Love, Sister Dodd

PS If you haven't already, get the new conference ensign!! It is so great, I have studied a lot of the talks already. Elder Eyring was one of my favorites.