The Last Airbender

Hey everyone, this week was pretty standard, we tracted a lot as usual. Didn't find any new investigators but thats okay.  

So we finally set up a time to meet with Lili so that should be happenning this week. Were wanting to put her on date, but it's been a while since we taught her last so we'll see how it goes. 

Cheryl texted us and said she wanted to go to some other churches and see what  they're like, because she hasn't been to any churches since she was a kid and ours is the first shes been back to. So that kinda set me off a little bit. The southern mentallity really kinda chaps me sometimes. People shop for churches so to speak, they go around until they find the one that suits their needs or makes them feel less accountable and tells them what they want to hear. You don't shop for churches people, there is one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. There is also only one "built upon the foundation of apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone" Eph. 2:20

But we have faith that if she's sincerely searching for the truth then she'll come back around eventually. On Tuesday we went to mutual like always, except this time the young men were playing umpa, which all the missionaries play on P day its like ultimate footsketball, if that makes sense, anyway we had a grand time playing with the youth. got a couple of pictures with my favorites, one who's name is Alieu, (Al-ee-yoo) he's from Sierra Leone, his mom is a recent convert and he and his dad are muslim but he always comes to mutual and I love him. Also this one kid named Jeffrey shaved his head so I bet him that he wouldn't draw a blue arrow on his head and he did haha such a savage it was quite funny. 

 This week on Kaydens Critters, Turtles!

Me and Sister Henderson, (my favorite person ever) accidentally matching

Six months in White Oak

Yes folks you read that right, transfers came and me and my comp are both staying in white oak, so by the end of my time here it will be 6 months. I'm excited though. 

So we went over to Cheryls last monday night and we had a lesson with her. We brought over a couple members who were awesome and we talked about all her concerns and dispelled all the anti stuff that her friend gifted her. The cool thing is her mom sat in on the whole lesson, as we dipelled anti, and as we taught a lot of basic doctrines and she had more questions than Cheryl! So were excited to see if she becomes more interested in the church through Cheryl wanting to be baptized. After the lesson as we were driving home Cheryl called us and did a complete 180 she said she knew the church was true, and she still wanted to be baptized, so were going to put her on date this week and hopefully make that happen soon. Other than that the rest of the week was pretty cut and dry. (well wet) it rained like crazy all week, lots of water, and humidity. On Friday we spent the whole day helping a member in our ward, Sister Henderson, who is probably my favorite person in the world haha she's so funny, we helped her put boards down in her attic and install can lights and do a whole bunch of stuff, so once again shoutout to Jim for teaching me how to do things. Good week!

Colonial Beach Virginia

I had just finished telling my comp about how I'm going to start a segment in this email called "Kaydens critters" where every time I catch an animal I'll send a picture of it with and explanation and then at the end say, "tune in next week to see whats on Kaydens Critters" Immediately after I said this a skunk comitted suicide by jumping in front of our car, so thats the black blob on the yellow line. It was funny!

 District meeting shenanigans 

In the attic

No Unhallowed Hand Can Stop the Work From Progressing!

So Cherl wasn't baptized this week, which is a real big bummer. She texted us the night before at like 10 oclock and pulled out, she said she just didn't feel ready yet. So we called her and as we dug a little deeper. She confessed the real reason. She's got a friend who, when she found out she was being baptized in the the LDS church, called her and unloaded the anti mormon on her. She gave her all these anti pamphlets and everything. We looked at the pamphlets and of course all they talk about is blacks and the priesthod and polygamy and how women can't hold the priesthood and the "top secret temple rituals" and every other "fact" is completely blasphemous and false. So that really set me off. Were going over to her tonight to "clear up" all this garbage and hopefully the spirit will be able to testify to her of the truth. In other news were going to put Lili on date this week, I'm really excited about her, shes been a catholic and a buddhist and just about everything else and she likes us, she told US she wanted to be baptized which was cool. The rest of the week was same old same old.  

I have been really trying to learn how the spirt speaks to me, and how to receive revelation. President Nelsons conference address really stood out to me as I'm sure it did all of you. Also Christ told Peter that upon the rock of revelation he would build his church. And I've always though well thats great and all, the leaders receive revelation I have no doubt. But it wasn't until recently I realized that same kind of personal relationship and abilitly to know Gods voice is available to each one of us. We should not be content just listening to others for directions. We have the ability to each one of us, have that kind of power in our every day lives. Anyway love you all have a good week!

The random painting of the fat guy is an original, he owned Chatham in the 1800s also the artist who painted it also painted the famous painting of Washington crossing the Deleware river.

 Chatham Manor, built in 1717, this house has had more presidents visit than any other in the u.s. served as a headquarters for the union during the civil war. 

the "30" is grafitti from the union soldiers in 1863-64

Insert Catchy Title Here

Hey y'all this week was awesome. This week we had exchanges with both the district leader and the zone leaders which is always fun. We also found 3 new investigators which is really good. 

We were out trying to track down some old formers and potentials and as we were walking one of our investigators, Lili, drove past us and then stopped and told us to come by. So we did and we planned on setting expectations with her. But as we started talking she totally set them for us. She said that this is something she wants to pursue and asked how she could join. So we discussed baptism and her learning more. The only thing she had concerns about was that she didn't know enough about the "culture" of the church.  But it was awesome so were hoping to set a baptism date with her this week. 

Cheryl is still doing awesome. Her baptism is going be this Saturday at 11:30! I'm pumped cause this is my first baptism! She came to church Sunday and during second hour she expressed her concerns about her husband, he is supportive but he just doesn't really believe in anything or understand why she has to go to church for so long. The ward mission leader (who is a convert) and his wife (the R.S. president) were there and pretty much took that one and bore powerfull tesimonies. I also had a scripture come to mind it was 1 Cor. 7:13-16 which are awesome and perfect for the situation.

Anyways that's it for this week, the rest of the time was spent tracting and other forms of finding. It is HOT AND HUMID here, it was in the 90's all week with lots of humidity. It is super pretty and green though. 

The Ferry Farm, the house you can kinda see is a replica of George Washingtons boyhood home, built on the foundations of the original house. This is where he famously chopped down a cherry tree, and me next to the Rappahanock river where he also famously threw a rock all the way across.