Sister Alex Hartivgsen-- Oct. 11, 2011

Dear Family, I hope all is well for you this week. This last week has been really good. It is really cooling down. I have even have had to wear a sweater last week a few days when the temperature fell below 80 (brr....) On Tuesday we met with a less active that the English elders had contacted. She loves the church and wants to come back but faces stong opposition from her husband who sees no point in organized religion. She has asked us to come by and teach her because she has forgotten a lot about the gospel in the time that she has been away. We met a women and taught her about virtue and the importance of standing up for whats right even when we face opposition. Later this week she came to the VC and took a tour. We had a meeting with a family It started off a little bit rocky whenthe wife told us that she feels guilty that she is meeting with the Jehovah's witnesses and us at the same time. She did open up throughout the lesson as we taught about the plan of salvation and the Savior's role in the plan. All we can really do is testify of the truth and then invite people to pray and have Heavenly Father tell them if it is true. We met with a less active women and her sons this week. It has been a real challenge to teach them because her sons are all under the age of 9 and one of them has downs syndrome so its been really hard to get them to participate in the lessons. After carefully praying we were inspired to try teaching the restoration lesson using primary songs and giving the boys the challenge to memorize them. It was a huge success. We got a call 2 days later from the women saying that her sons had memorized 3 of the songs and were working on the others and that they have been happier ever since we gave them this challenge. We used the songs I know my father lives, Families can be together forever, follow the prophet, He sent his Son,Joseph Smiths first prayer, book of Mormon Stories and a Childs prayer. We put them on a cd in both English and where it was available in Spanish. When we went over last night there was definately a better feeling in the home that hasn't ever been there before. This has also been a great motivator forthe mom . She has been inactive for about 4 years but seems to really feel the Spirit through song and music. (DyC 25). We are really trying to focus on teaching to the needs of people and I feel like we were definately inspired to do this for this family. We are excited to continue to see them grow. We met with a man and his wife for the first time together this week. We challenged them to pray together this week and ask Heavenly Father to guide them in the challenges that face their family. We met with another women and taught her and her daughters about the eternal nature of families. I think this has really struck home with them becausesheis going to give birth this Friday and her husband was able to make it back from Mexico to be with her and her daughters. We are going to keep teaching their family and try to get her husband interested in meeting with us as well. We met with a women . We taught her the Restoration and then invited her to church. She has a few doubts about organized church because she thinks all churches are just after money. We met with a recent convert family at the VC and talked about Sacrifice and overcoming challenges with them. It was a really cool lesson because for the first time, the wife really opened up and participated. Normally she is content to let her husband do all the talking. It was really powerful to hear her testimony. I love you all and I hope that you have a great week.
Love
Hermana Hartvigsen