August 3rd Email

Dear Family and Friends,

The highlight of this week would have to be the wonderful fast and testimony meeting we had! Last week my companion and I talked about missionary work. The bishop wanted us to speak the week before fast Sunday so that we could encourage the ward to fast for missionary opportunities. So a lot of the ward members were fasting for missionary experiences in their lives. I felt so united with our ward as we did this. It was a really neat opportunity!

We had a wonderful testimony meeting as well. There is a man in our ward that is from Iran. He converted from Islam about 15 years ago. He stood up and bore his testimony about the Savior and how the gospel had changed his life. He bore a very strong testimony of the divinity of God and Jesus. This was only the start of our meeting. Many stood up and told what the gospel meant to them. Almost every testimony focused on missionary work.

One of the last testimonies was so touching to me. The Deyoe’s, a family that Sister Stewart and I worked with in Lakewood Ranch, came to visit us because they wanted to see Sister Stewart before she left. Dave, who was baptized in March, stood up at the very end of the meeting and told what the gospel meant to him in his life. He looked us both in the face and cried while telling us thank you for the sacrifice to come on a mission. He was so grateful to have the church in his life. He told the congregation that if they felt they needed to check out a different church, to go and check it out. But no matter where they went the church would be waiting for them to come back home, because the church is true. He could barely make it through his testimony without crying.

The whole ward was crying by this time and you can only imagine what Sister Stewart and I looked like. The spirit was so strong as many bore witness of the truths that we know of. The ward here is incredible and I think it is because they are so unified. They all want to help each other and let others know about the gospel. There is a scripture in 4 Nephi verses 2-3 that talks about united. It is one that Sister Stewart shares a lot with our members. We can all have this kind of united if we all had the gospel. There is a lot of work to do and it is our responsibility to share the wonderful gift of the gospel with others.

We are still teaching Edward. We have committed him to baptism but he really wants and needs to study a little more before he can make that commitment. He is very serious about this, as he should be. But I know that because he is sincere he will know for himself that it is true. Any free time that he has off he spends reading the Book of Mormon. It is really neat to see the change in him this far. He loves what we teach and has nothing against the church. He also really likes his “angels.” (Sister Stewart and I)

Last Thursday we had a special musical fireside. They wouldn’t announce the special speaker because of the media. We were all so excited to see David Archuleta. I never thought I would get to meet him. The youth in our ward were ecstatic. It was hard because we were in the chapel for a fireside not in the gym for a concert. They did a really good job of keeping it under control. I never knew how little David was until he got up to speak. It was really neat to see him in his white shirt and tie. He was asked to speak from his heart, which is not his normal thing. He normally does a question and answer session. But he did a really good job. He is a really shy kid. You could tell he is a normal kid though. He kind of rambles and got off subject at times. But you could tell it was from his heart. He talked about how he knew God was using him to do missionary work, which he was doing that very night because there were a ton of non-members there.

We got to meet him afterwards and took some pictures. But they wouldn’t let anyone take pictures with their own cameras, so I don’t have any to send you but I will next week. When we took the picture he put his arms around us. The people in the room gasped and he dropped his arms really fast. He apologized profusely, he forgot the rules. He was so embarrassed. It was really cute!!!

Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support. I love you all so much. This work is amazing. I love it. We talked this week at interviews how before the mission we wanted to have fun. But as missionaries know we want joy and we know where to find that joy. It is found in the gospel if Jesus Christ. I am filled with joy and hope I can take it into my life after the mission!

Love
Sister Comte