letter from Aug 8

It has been an awesome week! Update on Jahadah: We have three sets of missionaries in our ward and every single day this week she went out with at least one of the sets of missionaries to teach a lesson! She is getting very excited for her mission! She has introduced one of her friends to us, her name is Madavi. Madavi is so cool, she was a Hindu and she had lost her faith in God. Jahdah introduced her to us and we taught her about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She ate it right up, she is really diving into the New Testament and the Book of Mormon because she really wants to know who Jesus Christ is. It is so cool to work with someone's faith from the ground level! Update on Alex: he is doing well! He was given the priesthood yesterday at church! He invited us to his apartment to have a few bean, chorizo, and cheese burritos. Soooo good. He told us that he had to go to Get some more undergrad work to get done in Mexico. So he is leaving on August 15. I am not going to lie I was really bummed because I thought I was going to have 10 more weeks with him. I am sure He will be great and stay strong in Mexico and I will be able to stay in contact with him! Yesterday was my favorite Testimony meeting I had been to in my life! To start off, Jayla and Rashee were at church, super awesome to see them there. It was Fast and testimony meeting. Sister Sabo bore her testimony because to was the 9th anniversary of her joining the church, she talked about how it was such a blessing in her life and that she was never turning back, she also said it was the 24th anniversary of her being sober. Then princess got up and shared her testimony of her conversion experience. She talked about how she had been smoking crack for 30 years and how the church took her from a life of drug dealing, getting jumped, homeless, being dragged by cars, to living a godly life, being drug free, and having true friends that were there for her. She said, "The atonement works from the inside out!" It was truly amazing to hear her complete turn around and to see how happy she was about it. She then pulled out her harmonica and started singing amazing grace. A Brother who had been visiting for the past 3 weeks from Utah, got up and said that this was his last Sunday in this ward. He said it was the best ward he had ever been in, and that it was definitely the most powerful testimony meeting he had ever been a part of! He wasn't wrong. Latrinda Ross got up and bore her testimony on how awesome the leadership has been in this ward. Bishop Thompson is an amazing bishop. To cap it all off we saw an old women that we had contacted a couple days before walk in, we had told her about the meeting and so she knew it was a testimony meeting. She got up and bore a testimony about how great God is and how he has totally turned her life around. In third hour I was with Elder Garfield in Young men's where Brother Dyer did a very real and in depth lesson where he talked about this amazing experience. He is a Stage dancer for Pop Artists (One of the most physically fit guys I have met) He had been given an opportunity of a lifetime and was told to think about, He then got home and realized that he needed to do some scripture study, after that he prayed and said, "God, I really want this job, but I want you to know that If this is something I shouldn't do then tell me. Nothing in this life is worth stopping my eternal progression and coming to church to take the sacrament feeling awful." He said that he didn't accept the job but later he was given even better opportunities that allowed his life to grow even more. I love this ward so much!