Already November!!!

Dear Family,

Good to hear Halloween was FUN!! Kimball and Hope, you both look AWESOME!! And Conner, your pumpkin is pretty sweet too :) My Halloween consisted of driving in the rain for like 9 hours and McDonalds and Preach my Gospel studying! After missionaries have been out for a year, they have a one year temple trip with all of the missionaries they came out with. So Sister Williams went to that on Halloween and we took her companion, so we drove for an hour and a half in traffic to get her, drove back, got yelled at by a less-active to tell us to stop coming back, and then drove back and dropped off her companion, and then drove back home. So I'm getting very good at Driving :) Haha but it was fun!

The work has been a little slow this week. It seems like EVERYONE is sick here! I'm thinking something must be in the water here or in the air... And I'm seeing when it's cold not many people open their doors, and people are not as friendly. I don't know why though! I LOVE THE FALL AND WINTER! I love November and having Thanksgiving! We have so much to be grateful for! And I love Christmas! It makes everyone remember and think about Christ! I hope you are all remembering our Savior and what he has done for us! I've been reading in 3 Nephi when Christ comes to the people in the Americas. My favorite line he says is Come unto me! He wants EVERY SINGLE one of his children to come unto him! He loves us all and wants us to receive the best joy we can possibly have!

We studied a lot about the spirit this week. As a missionary it is impossible to teach without the spirit! I have seen a few times where there might be tension between my companion and I, and we are not able to teach with the spirit until we resolve our conflicts. I know that what I say in lessons is not nearly as important as the spirit that I bring when testifying. In our District Meeting this week we went through questions we get asked often like "Why do I have to get baptized again?" Or "Why do I have to repent if Jesus already died for me?" or even "If Jesus drank wine, why can't I?" and probably the most asked question "Why do you believe in Polygamy?"  I could go on and on about the questions we get asked and some of them are very easy to answer, like "No, we don't believe in polygamy." But others can be more difficult. What I have learned though, is that as missionaries we have to just tell them what is most important. We have to TESTIFY with the SPIRIT! And one of the best ways is to use the Book of Mormon! I know that what the introduction says about praying to ask for ourselves is the ONLY way we can know for ourselves if these things are true. On Sunday one of our members brought their nephew to church for the first time. He had asked for a bible so we gave him one. When I asked if he wanted a Book of Mormon he immediately said he doesn't believe it is true because only the bible can give him answers. I simply testified that I KNEW that the Book of Mormon was true because I have read it and I have prayed and asked Heavenly Father to know if it is true and I know that it is! I told him if he ever wants to know for himself too, we always are willing to give him a free copy. He replied with I'll read my bible to know if the Book of Mormon was true. I could have started arguing saying "No you can't read the bible to know if the Book of Mormon is true, that's like eating pie to see if you like cake?? It just doesn't make sense." But instead I just told him the Book of Mormon has blessed my life and brought me SO MUCH HAPPINESS :) There was a lot of tension and there were a lot of members that saw me get rejected but I felt good because I know the happiness that the Book of Mormon has brought me and I shared my testimony with him. That is all we can do and then it is up to them. So we should always do our part, Testify to everyone we see! So they KNOW that we KNOW these things are true! And the spirit will touch their hearts :)

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!! Thank you for your support and for reading these letters! I hope I don't sound to crazy :) I really do hope you learn something from what I write and that you are all trying to become more like our Savior everyday! Stay safe and warm :)

Love, Sister Samantha Tracy