Sister Akayla Juliann Ferrara: Hello again!

It was a great week in Elmwood!

Last Monday after preparation day was over we had FHE with Sister La pier who is a less active that we're working with. She made us these delicious lemon bars that she is famous for :) Then we worked outside on her backyard pulling weeds and mowing the lawn. It was ridiculously hot! Then we saw some investigators, Erin and Jeff. They have been meeting with missionaries for a couple years now, and I'm pretty sure Erin the wife would be baptized by now if it wasn't for her husband Jeff. He believes only in the Bible and has a real hard time with the Book of Mormon. Has a very stubborn attitude, so you have to be very bold and confident with him or he will just shut you down.

Tuesday we were at the TC in the morning and then that night we tried a bunch of people then saw our investigator Dusty. She was set for baptism on August 8th at this point, and that night we talked to her about the word of wisdom because she smokes. She has 4 mental illnesses, so she's kind of like a little child (like most people we work with here) and kind of freaked out when we told her she needed to quit smoking in order to be baptized. She told us that we were judging her and it was impossible for her to quit and that she didn't want to get baptized anymore. We talked to her very calmly and explained everything to her lovingly and then eventually left. Well, about an hour later she called us up (she calls us every single day) and told us she wanted to be baptized but it would have to be later, so now she is set for the 15th. We'll see how that goes! She is hilarious :) We also saw Christina that night who is a less active who is married to Josh who is another one of our investigators.

Wednesday we had zone training. First zone training in a long time that I haven't had to train at. Kind of refreshing, but weird! This zone is very different from my previous zone. We have 7 sets of sisters and a bunch of elders. It's a lot bigger than Omaha. It's really great though! We went to this amazing crepe place for lunch that is in our area and absolutely delicious for really cheap! Love it! Tried a bunch of people after lunch with not a ton of luck and then went to Grand China Buffet for dinner with some members. There was so much food! And guess what! I tried squid! Yeah, it was a little wild. Only had one bite of it because it tasted kinda funky. I am just not a huge adventurous eater haha. Not a huge fan of sea food. We were SO stuffed by the end of the day with all that food. We saw Krystal that night who is only 23 and is a less active. She got married at 18 to a non member who cheated on her a year later. She has a 5 year old son now and is not officially divorced yet because she won't let go even though he is now dating someone else and has had a kid with her. Just a mess! She is still so bitter and jealous and it breaks my heart. She has no interest in really coming back to church so I don't know if we'll keep working with her. She just likes to vent to us.

Thursday morning was really dead and SO hot outside so we were dying. We did see a recent convert, Brother Porter and had a great lesson with him. He's preparing to go to the temple! We served at the TC that night. Nothing too interesting!

Friday we weekly planned in the morning and discussed how we're going to get more investigators because we're kind of lacking in that area. We had lunch with a member of the ward, Sister Maeser and and then served at the TC that night.

Saturday we had a full day in the area! Went to a baptism of a guy named Dana that Sister Strong had found but had to turn over to the cold springs sisters. Sister LaPier came with us and it was so wonderful :) We saw Dusty again and right now she's still so excited and anxious to get baptized! Her husband Gary is a returning member and just got the priesthood yesterday at church so he's going to be able to baptize her :) We saw an investigator, Elena who is extremely catholic and has been working with missionaries for 2 years and has absolutely no desire to change. She talks and talks and talks and has a situation where she is also very bitter because her fiance 2 years ago joined the church so he broke off the wedding. She is obviously still totally in love with him and is looking into the church because she wants to know what was so interesting to him. She's hard. We had dinner with Joe and Anna that night. Joe is a returning member and Anna is just his friend that is sort of an investigator. To sum it up quickly. They both have the mind frame of about a 6 year old. He made us salmon casserole which was interesting. They are so adorable! I feel like these people are just preparing me for my children in the future :)

Sunday was great! Church was so good. Had 7 people there! Then dinner with our ward mission leader and his family, the Cottams. Love them so much! He has only been home from his mission for 5 years and they have 3 kids already. They are so wonderful. After dinner Sister Cottam came with us to see Christina and Josh in the ER! Christina was at church earlier and had been throwing up a bunch and had a really bad migraine so she went to the hospital and we went and saw them there. She is doing a lot better now. It was a great week! I should get going now though. Hope you are all doing well! I love you so much :)