January 12th Email

Dear Family and Friends,

Hi! I hope all is going well in Utah. Many people have told us that it is cold and snowy there. I hope all are well with the bad weather. Last week my companion and I went out tracting and it started to rain. We kept on going even though we were cold and wet. We found a really nice lady that is interested in the church. I know we found her because we were diligent despite the rain. After we found her the rain stopped. It might rain again today. It looks pretty gloomy here today!

We had a Stake Mission Conference on Wednesday night. It was really good. The high councilor who is over missionary work talked first. He talked about how missionary work is the life blood in the church. He talked about how we need to have an even pulse throughout our lives of doing missionary work. Then we watched a movie about member visits and member referrals. A lot of missionary work is done through the members. A person is 5 times more likely to listen and join the church if they have a friend that is already a member. We talked all night about how we can work together, missionaries and members, to do the Lord’s work. Please always be looking for opportunities to share the gospel. Imagine being in heaven, before judgment day and one of your best friends comes up to you. Your best friend, who never heard about the church, says “I can’t believe that you had the most valuable thing in the world and you never told me about it.” I don’t want my friends to say that to me. Always be an example and share the good news!

On Thursday for studies, Sister Anderton and I read some talks from conference. We read the talk entitled “Lift Where You Are Standing.” I really liked this talk. We can get so much more done if we will lift where we are. We need to build the kingdom in our own homes and communities. We also need to strengthen people in our specific callings. We need to fulfill our callings to our best abilities. We do not need to worry about someone else calling, we have been asked to do ours for a reason. Fulfill that reason!!!

We had interviews this week with the Mission President. We do training before the interviews start. We talked about member work again. We also talked about something called the refinement list. The refinement list has some of the rules we are suppose to follow. President Colton again reminded us that we are not out here to be on vacation but to work hard and follow the rules. I know for my self the following the rules, pays off. It is easy to be obedient and from this we will be blessed.

Saturday was a very special day because we had a baptism. My companion, Sister Anderton has served most of her mission here in Seminole. When she was here last year, she worked with the James Family. The wife is a member and a year ago, her husband was baptized. They just had a baby boy about a month ago and they have two older daughters. Their oldest, Mia, is 8 and she was the one that was baptized this weekend. Her mom and dad did the whole program except for a musical number that Sister Anderton and I did. Her dad talked on baptism and how it has blest his life. It was really neat for my companion to see his growth. Her dad then baptized her. The spirit was really strong. Her mom talked on the gift of the Holy Ghost. Both of her parents did a really good job. It was a small baptism but the spirit was powerful. The only people that were there were the Mom and Dad, Mia, her little sister, their baby, and the bishop and his wife. I felt bad that there weren’t a lot of people there but they all missed out on a great opportunity.

The James’s are Polynesian. After the baptism they went to a barbeque at an Uncles house. They invited us to come along. This was the second party that we have gone to with them. We had a really good time. The party was a great time to talk to non-members since the majority of people there were not members. Everyone at these parties seems to know who we are. Everyone loves us and we also are some of the first people to eat. They always ask one of us to bless the food. We love these parties!!!

We have a baptism this week as well. The man that is getting baptized is 71. His sister is a member. He is in an assisted living facility because he has dementia. He remembers most things we teach him. Every time we ask him what a prophet is he says that it is making money. We tell him every time that we are talking about a prophet of God not a profit. He laughed the other day and said he just wanted to see our reactions. Well he certainly got one. He is really funny and always makes us laugh.

Transfer calls will come this weekend so I don’t know if I will be here in Seminole anymore. But I don’t think I am going to move. I hope I get to stay. I really like it here. I won’t be emailing next week on Monday because it is a holiday. But I guess everyone at home will be busy with the new baby that will be coming!!!! I am excited to see Marley and hope that maybe on Tuesday when I check my email that their might be a picture of two that someone might send. I hope all is going well with everyone. I love you all!!!

Love
Sister Comte