Jacob 3:7

So the work here is doing very well. I'm getting better at calling everyone to make set appointments rather than just hoping they are home. We have a very busy week. I'm excited.

This week we taught Laura again. She needs to get married to get baptized, but her boy friend Ed isn't proposing. She wants him to have the strong desire she does to get married. Poor thing. Mom if you could e-mail me your conversion story about how you decided to get baptized. I know your conversion is centered around family. Laura is 27 with a 1 year old and a boyfriend. She want's a family that we describe. I think your words would impact her tremendously. Whenever you have free time. I know that I will recieve it when It is most necessary.

Another investigator is Ray. He is extremely into the Bible and desires to be closer to Heavenly Father. He has been around Mormons and said he has never had any complaints. He is going to read The Book of Mormon. He wants another lesson with us in a month after he has read it. I know he will read it. He said he can't deny The Book of Mormon. I wish we could go see him earlier, but we need to respect him. Plus we know he will read and he needs that time to dive in the book. I think we will stop by every now and then and see if he has questions. He is very kind and respectful.

We are also teaching Gary. He is wonderful. His wife and kids are members. He is reading The Book of Mormon. I knows it's true in this head,  but he doesn't feel it yet. We highly respect him. He is a wonderful husband and father. He said that he knows he will get baptized someday....ahhh he just has some questions. But we know those are lifelong questions that the Holy Ghost can help him answer. We keep teaching him. It's never a burden to go over because he is so wonderful. He is truly easy to love. We just love him so much we want him to have the Gospel now. He goes to church every sunday but doesn't stay after sacrament meeting. We are going to try to think of a way to help him understand how much he would learn if he would stay.

We are also teaching the Hobbs family. The dad is also not a member, but he is very sweet to us. We love going over there. We taught the importance of family. We had them create a list of things they can do to strengthen there family even more. They do so many recreational activities so we have to put that as just one thing. We included family prayer, scripture reading, family home evening, family dinner, and Daddy Daughter Dates and Mommy and Son Dates. The dad thought that was the thing he wanted to work on the most. We circled it. Autumn the daughter just got baptized. She will hound him about joining the church. We are going to let her push him. haha She is so sweet.

We have a baptism this weekend. Brooke. She is eight. We are inviting everyone we know to go to that so they can see her face as she comes out of the water. It will be wonderful.

We also are teaching a little boy who is eight the lessons. He wants to get baptized, but the family that he is staying with wants to make sure he realizes that he's making the decision and not them. He needs his own testimony to rely on because his dad is not a member and his mom died when he was a baby. The dad doesn't take good care of him so this family in our ward took him and his sister. They are so wonderful to the kids. The daughter just went to the Temple for the first time and baptized her Mom. :) It was a powerful experience for her.

We are going through our area book alot. Its makes me so angry when previous missionaries don't write down detailed information. It makes it almost impossible to find the people.

We helped move out a family. The mom is moving into town. She currently doesn't have custody of the kids because the dad was abusive and she wasn't protecting them the way she should. She is having a hard time accepting that. The one daughter was recently baptized, but isn't as active because of this trial that she is going through. She finally came to church yesterday. The mom is doing everything she can to get the kids back. (they are teenagers) She has been sober for 90 days +. I'm so proud of her. She needed the help moving. At first me and Sister Partridge were the only ones there to help because her friends bailed. We called another family in our ward and they came to help. I wasn't feeling very good to begin with and then when I walked inside the house, it smelled like dead deer. I thought I was going to puke. She was so appreciative of the help we gave her. We are going to teach her very soon. We have to be careful because of the situation she is in. We realize that if her daughter goes to church, the mom cannot go. That is very tough, but she needs the gospel in her life, so we will teach her and pray that things work out.

I've gotten extremely close with the ward. We have their trust which is great because we need referrals. We do as much service as we can and also show that we are working hard. We set up a fireside that we are having the youth invite all their nonmember friends to come and write down questions about the church and we have a panel that will answer them. That will hopefully give us some interest. That will happen Jan. 27th

We also have a missionary fireside this Sunday. I am Singing at it. I don't remember the name of the song. I barely know the song. I will practice it this week...in the no spare time I have.

Oh I love the work. I love it so much. It is exhausting. It is hard. But It is wonderful and I know I am where I am suppose to be. I miss you all so much. I really do. Keep giving me updates on your lives. I love them.

My favorite scripture is Jacob 3:7 this week.  "Behold, their ^ahusbands ^blove their ^cwives, and their wives love their husbands; and their husbands and their wives love their children; and their ^dunbelief and their hatred towards you is because of the iniquity of their fathers; wherefore, how much better are you than they, in the sight of your great Creator?"

I am reading through The Book of Mormon. I'm currently in Mosiah 6 now. But when I read Jacob 3:7 I remember how Mom and Dad also told me to put your spouse before your kids. I always thought that was just their opinions, but if you look at the order in that verse, you know that it is true. You need to love your spouse before your kids and it will all fall into place. I shared that with a member in our ward the same day I read it. I think that was Tuesday. Isn't it wonderful. :) Thanks Mom and Dad

Well I will send you some pictures. I love you alll so much!

Sister Gampe