"The best is yet to come"

Hello everyone,

Things are going quite well here in Lawrenceville, Georgia. The week started off a little rough, but ended on a major high. The past couple of days have been amazing! We have been getting a lot of referrals and some really good potential investigators. We have set up a lot of appointments. The only bad thing is that the majority of them have been falling through. Sister Bulouniwasa and I have been keeping the faith though, and are hoping that we will soon find new success.

Yesterday we had a nonmember (Mike) show up at church with his less-active friend (Marlyn). This was the first investigator we have had at church in the 14 weeks I've been here, so as you can probably imagine I was very very happy and excited. They were both able to stay for Sacrament and Sunday School, and even participated in the Sunday School lesson which was awesome! Afterwards they asked for a copy of the gospel principles book and we also gave Mike a copy of the Book of Mormon. He told Marlyn that they can read it together. He's going to play a huge role in reactivating Marlyn. One of the first things Marlyn said to me was "I've already been baptized, but he still needs to be." Then later on Mike said "Marlyn's already been baptized, but I haven't." So he definitely knows he needs to be baptized and it seems as though Marlyn has talked to him about it. I am really excited to meet with him this week.

As we were walking out of the apartment one day a guy in a car rolls down his window and said he read the book we gave him. He then pulls over and starts telling us that it confused him greatly. He started talking about Joseph Smith and how he didn't understand why he would keep the gold plates a secret and he just went on and on about misconceptions. Later in the conversation he asked if we believe in Jesus Christ. That was a major indicator right there that he hasn't actually read the Book of Mormon. Because if you've read it you know that it testifies all about Jesus Christ. We tried to calmly explain to him what our actual beliefs are, and he wasn't too into listening. It was actually a really frustrating conversation and for the most part I just kept my mouth shut and let my companion explain (simply because she was a lot calmer than I would have been). He left us with a Bible scripture to read and then when we "beautiful hearted people see [him] again" he is going to ask us to tell him what it means. We gladly accepted the invitation. Though it was a frustrating conversation, I learned a lot. Experiences like that don't weaken my faith, and they don't make me doubt but rather they strengthen my testimony. It gives me an opportunity to think more about what I believe. I'm grateful for that.

Saturday and Sunday we decided we would try out tracting again. I actually enjoyed it. No one slammed the door on us. We had a couple of people who didn't want to listen, but they weren't rude about it. We also had a few people who listened and accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon. Tracting works if you're persistent and keep on going :)

The branch is doing super well. The members are really working on sharing the gospel with their friends. We had two members come up to us during church yesterday and ask for a copy of the Book of Mormon to give to co-workers. Several members are working on friends/coworkers and will soon have referrals for us. I'm amazed at the courage these members have. It isn't an easy thing to share the gospel, but as you do it little by little, day by day, it gets a easier.

The Lord's hand truly is in this work and He is guiding it. We missionaries could not do it without His help. Things are really picking up here in this area, and I am excited to see what happens. "The best is yet to come." I hope y'all are doing well and that you have a marvelous week!

with much love, Sister Taylor