Lil's visit to NY

Another wonderful letter from Lil. I love reading these. It really makes me realize what is really important in life.

This week was awesome! On Tuesday, we went to visit a lady named marie who was a referral from temple square and we walked in and she said, "now i'm not looking for religion, but I just want to hear more about this story. The feeling at temple square just resignated with me and I love it." GOLDEN! So she asked how you start the book of mormon, and my companion just explained to her the bom like nephi and his family went to america etc., and by the time she got to moroni, the lady was in tears!!!! The spirit was so strong! I testified of the thruthfulness and how she can find out for herself if it is true by reading and prayer. It was incredible. She is coming to conference and we are meeting with her tomorrow. I cannot even express the joy I felt by the end of that visit. The gospel is true and the Holy Ghost testifies of that! I am so grateful for that experience.

So we decided on friday night that no matter what we were going to give away a book of mormon yesterday. By 6 p.m. we hadn't placed one yet and we had a dinner appointment at 6 so I was frustrated thinking we would be out all night. So we went into this dinner appointment and told them our goal and just said if you know anyone that would want one in your neighborhood, let us know! So we started our lesson with them about missionary work, and the doorbell rang. Sister Diaz went to get the door, and it was Brother Diaz's best friend's father. He was just stopping by and she said the missionaries were there, so he asked if he could come and listen because, "he was so confused on which church to join because there are so many and he didn't know how to find out which was the right church." Sound familiar? The only problem was that he didn't speak english. Luckily we had a spanish book of mormon in the car, and I literally ran to the car to get it. I ran back in and we taught through the Diaz's that if he reads and prays about this bookwith a sincere heart, he will know it is true. Luckily the elders in the next area speak spanish, so they are going to go teach him. He had been searching for a while of the truth so he was so excited. Wow, once again the Lord blesses us and puts us where we need to be at the right time.

So in January before I decided to go on a mission, I made a list of things I wanted to do before the year was over. I accomplished them all but one thing: go to New York. I was sad but knew that one day I could go there. Well, we have a lady in our ward by permission that lives in New York and has cancer and needed help from the missionaries with cleaning because she is on chemo. SO, as you have probably already guessed, I GOT TO GO TO NEW YORK!!!!!!! I was SO EXCITED!!! We stopped by another member's home in NY and she owns an adorable bed and breakfast, so we stopped there and visited with her. When we come back here, we have to stay there because its so cute! She fed us some treats and we headed over to Sister Donegins. She is really weak because of the chemo, but still managed to make dinner and 2 homemade pumpkin pies from scratch for dinner (dad, stop drooling! but the pie was AMAZING and I don't even like pie!) I felt so great when we left because she put us to work. She was such a great example because although she had no hair, was sick and exhausted, she still worked hard as a mother to her daughter and husband. By the way, her daughter is named Lily and they call her Lil. I loved it! I seriously couldn't have had a better day in New York fulfilling one of my dreams by doing service and giving a message about how the worth of souls is GREAT in the sight of God.

I don't have very many funny stories here, but I am so happy serving. THe work continues and it is so beautiful here! I love you all so much!

TAWANDA!!

Love, Lil