Sister Kirsten Leslie: "Does My Breath Smell Like Rock?"

My brain isn't working at the moment, so I don't know what nifty introduction to put at the beginning of this email. I hope this works.

Monday, we did stuff with all the Minot missionaries because it was Elder Stewart's last P-day before going home. He's now a regular person in the Land of Eternal P-day. Elder Wilkinson was here still because his companion had to go home 3 weeks ago due to medical things so he was companions with Elders Larsen and Stewart in a tripanionship. I guess the thing to do with elders to "initiate" them into a new "area" is 2 get 2 cakes and smash them into either side of the new-to-the-area's face and to get it everywhere. So on Monday, it was poor Elder Wilkinson's turn. Poor guy. He had frosting everywhere. The elders told me and Sister Jensen that we are next, but I don't think so. Long hair with cake and frosting in it would take fffooorrreeevvvveeeerrrr to get out! Yeah no thanks.

Tuesday 3 of our 4 appointments cancelled, but it happens. It was ironic though because the one that went through was with Jose and the other 3 were with potential investigators and a less-active member, so they are the ones that need it more probably. Now, don't think that I'm saying Jose doesn't need anything; he does, he's still growing his testimony. But those who don't know of the gospel of Jesus Christ also need to hear about him. But it was good. We went over the Priesthood with Jose again, and he understood it well. He is getting excited to receive the Priesthood soon, in the next couple weeks! He says that he feels special that he gets to hold the Priesthood and we don't, and so we made sure he understands that it's a big responsibility to hold the Priesthood. It is there to spiritually strengthen and uplift others and so he needs to worthily hold and exercise the Priesthood for all those of us who can't hold the Priesthood (namely, women.). It was cool because he understands all of that and is excited to get to help others by righteously exercising God's power on the earth. I love watching people make connections! But Jose did something later in the week that really showed to us that he does have a testimony. On Friday, he was going to come with us to visit a less-active brother in the ward and he was way excited. But then the appointment cancelled, so we texted Jose to let him know. He replied with, "What are you girls going to do now? This is some sad stuff! Want me to kidnap someone for you to teach?" And jokingly, we replied, "Yes. Yes we do. That would be great!" And he repsonded with "Ummm ok give me 5 mins". No joke, 10 minutes later he calls us and says "Sisters I have 2 of my friends for you to teach. Be over at my apartment at 8 and you can teach 'em. Oh yeah, and they're both guys so bring a girl." Sister Jensen and I talked with him and then hung up the phone. We then just sat there in shock for a second, in awe. He has no fear with talking to his friends and those he knows about the gospel! It was cool to see from such a new convert. So at 8 that night, we went and taught Calib and Steve. It was an interesting lesson, but in the end they became new investigators and were like "how could we not read the Book of Mormon after this presentation?" So we are meeting with them again on Thursday to continue teaching them! They are great! It was a way cool experience. And It was so fulfilling. Also, yesterday in Church, Jose was read in as a member of our ward. He has Church records now! He is on our ward list!!! BOOM, baby! It was so cool to watch him stand up and then have everyone sustain him. It was great. He's so cool, never ceases to amaze and inspire us.

This week we found another investigator by tracting. We were tracting Danielle and Anthony's apartment building, and had talked to a few people but hadn't had much success, but we tracted the whole thing anyways. When we knocked on the second to last door, a young mother opened the door, heard our short intro and let us right in. Come to find out she had been given a Book of Mormon by someone in Stanley 3 years ago and had read some of it and liked it but then she moved and it got lost and when she got here to Minot she didn't know how to find the Church. That was 3 years ago. So she has been waiting to find the Church again. She told us that people always knock on her door for a reason, and she knew she was supposed to meet us. It was awesome. Her name is Karla. We taught her the Restoration and she wants to know how her family can be forever. So next time, we're teaching the PLan of Salvation and she wants to come to Church! She is great! We are so excited to meet with her again! It was cool because we had 5 potential investigator appointments fall through this week, and we still got 3 new investigators! And they weren't even the ones on our list.

Home primary went good this week, we talked about Heavenly Father's love for us. It was so cute, at the end of the lesson we gave both Trent and Brad a candy for saying such good prayers and Brad (4) took a Ferrero Roche truffle and took it out and was like, "Mom, why did they give me a rock?" He put it in his mouth and was like, "Hmmm, rocks taste good." And then after he was done, "Mom, does my breath smell like rock?" Haha it was so cute. You never know what little kids are going to do and so it's always fun to get to interact with them and help them build their faith from a young age.

We got in with a lot of less-actives this week that we have been trying for a few months. One of which is a part member family who lives in Surrey, a town about 15 minutes east of Minot. We've been there a few times and talked to the 16 year old daughter, but we always went in the middle of the day and so they were heading off to work and such. Last time we stopped by, Kaitlyn (the 16 year old daughter) told us to come back around 7 or 7:30 sometime and they would be home. So we went over on Wednesday and they let us right in! It was awesome! We came in and just got to know them. For some reason, we were prompted to NOT share a message, which was strange, but we heeded it and then about 30 minutes in the Allen turned to his wife and commented with a smile, "Dear, have you noticed that they haven't tried asking why we don't come to Church or asking if they could share a message yet?" They then explained that they have had hard experiences with Church members and aren't ready to come back to Church. They don't want to be pushed in any way, but they do have a 14 year old daughter who wants to learn more about the Church. Kaitlyn's boyfriend was there as well, and he even expressed some interest in learning about the Church. So they are going to let us come back about once a week to start teaching their youngest, Ashley (14), but also their family. They need to be taught simply and slowly, they said, so we are not going to teach them very much in each lesson. It's kinda like home primary in a way. Kinda like home Young Women. We are SO excited to start working with their family! They like us so far and we already love them!

And yeah, that's about the highlights of the week! We had some great experiences and are excited for this next one! We get to go down to Bismarck on Friday for Zone Conference again, so we are excited for that. ZC Is the best!

Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers, I appreciate it so much and it helps me through the discouraging times! I love you all!

sister leslie.