Letter - July 25, 2010

Miracles

Hello Family!

Sister Alldredge and I have officially walked on water. The attached pictures are of our recent adventure outside the mall. We spent 10 min. inside giant hamster balls, just to let off a little steam. The following is the account in her words:

" I have never understood Newton's, 'for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction' law as well as when I got in that ball. It was literally impossible to move anywhere! You'd try and run in it and you would just end up looking like a hamster, cuz your ball wouldn't actually move anywhere. Anyways, Sister Paul and I both got in these balls and tried to "duke it out" but we only ended up by each other for like 30 seconds and then we drifted out of range."

As our ten minutes ticked away, we realized how fortunate this time-limit really is, for preventing serious oxygen deprivation. Our lungs are bigger than most 10-year old boys'. Oh what a great time.

Now on to a few real miracles: we've been blessed lately with people who are interested to meet regularly. On inventory, none of them were found through our own rigorous finding efforts. I know that the Lord has heard our prayers of faith and has blessed us according to our obedience. One woman brought herself to Church having already heard the discussions from the missionaries, and telling them that she no longer wanted to investigate. She had been meeting with us for quite awhile, without much foreseeable progress. Our lesson with her last Monday was for me, a very special one. We were trying to answer a question that she had on the Word of Wisdom, and she brought up her dependence on coffee herself, and then proceeded to ask us how she could quit. She committed herself! She is a very hard person to read, but the commitment shows that she is ready to make some big steps.

We spent a good portion of our week assembling a display for an open house that was held last Friday. We lamented over the hours that we couldn't be out finding, but again the Lord blessed us for doing our best. A member, Kazimerius, came up and told us that there will be a girl here tonight that will ask to be baptized, and I had a hard time believing his words, since he's in his 80's and fairly senile. (My previous memory of him was the prior week, when he was posting the Lithuanian flag in honor of a holiday. He ardently forbade me to stabilize his tipping ladder, because he would rather go to God.) A few minutes later, his friend and granddaughter walked in, and asked how she could be baptized. She is 11, and had seen something about our faith on television, and decided that since it was time for her to be baptized, she would choose this faith. She was excited and touched by the message of temples. Seeing youth like herself makes Joseph Smith's life much more believable.

The time has run short again. Thanks for all your prayers.

Sesuo Paul