February 7th Email !!!

Hey Everyone,

This week has been another exciting week in Tampa. We have been working hard and loving every minute of it. We met with Crystal this past week, we gave her the video link of Elder Holland's talk "Safety for the Soul" and had her watch it before we met with her because that talk gives such a strong testimony of The Book of Mormon and we figured if anyone could help her out with gaining a testimony of it it would be an Apostle of the Lord. She loved it and had been praying for an answer to know if The Book of Mormon is true and she said that she has received an answer but it hasn't been the answer she wanted. She acknowledged that she got the feeling that it was true but wanted a definative yes or no. Normally we would have ran with the feeling and explained the truthfulness behind it but the Spirit told Elder Cook and I that if she really reads and prays with a sincere heart, real intent, and faith in Jesus Christ just as Moroni promised that she would get her definate answer. So that's what we did. We are texting her a "Scripture of the day" for her to read everyday because she doesn't have time to read a lot between school, work, and lacrosse we just send her a couple verses and she has promised that she will read those verses each day and pray with the SPECIFIC question to know that The Book of Mormon is true and she will receive that SPECIFIC answer. I've been able to do a lot of study on myself lately and it has really opened my eyes at what the Lord expects of me in my time here on this Earth. I have read and re-read my patriarchal blessing and have written on a seperate piece of paper what has stood out to me. Then I read what has stood out and study those points in the scriptures and apply what stood out to me into my daily habits and how I go about my day. I have a lot I need to work on but the Lord has promised me he will bless me along the way if I am DILIGENT in doing all that he asks. As I was studying to teach Mikayla (a member of our branch) about temples, because that is what she asked us about, I found a lot of answers to questions I had from my personal studies. It's amazing how the Lord has his hand in every little thing in our lives if we just open our eyes and pay attention to his tender mercies. She went all out again for us for dinner. She made great pulled pork sandwiches! First time that I have had homemade pulled pork since I've been on my mission. It was great and come to find out that was her first time making it. We have been working a lot with a less active lately. Great guy, knows the church is true but just struggles with some things in life that pull him away. He has been doing great! He has come to church 4 out of the last 5 Sundays (even yesterday being Super Bowl Sunday he showed up!). He comes to most of the Institute classes and even calls us when he needs a ride so he can come. He is dating a non member who Elder Alber and I taught a while ago and the other day he text us asking if we could come give her a blessing. Sweet!!! They went to the church dance this past Friday and when our Ward Mission Leader was talking to her she told him that she was very grateful for the blessing and said that she needed to start coming back and going to church again. I love this work and I love that our mission is starting to do member work! It's exciting and so rewarding to not just bring people into the fold but to bring people back into the fold!!

I Love You All So Much!!

Elder Salmon