"Wherefore, he that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are edified and rejoice together." -D&C 50:22

The church is true!  The Holy Ghost does touch hearts and give answer to prayers.  I love this work so much!  It was an incredible week.  I have a testimony that if we just "keep our line in the water" how preach my gospel puts it, the Lord blesses us with prepared people.

 Get this:  Friday was so hot.  We had walked practically our whole area, from appointment to appointment, and not one was home.  We had organized a couple splits too, with women in the Relief Society so we could double the missionary effort and we felt bad because it was just one of those days where we got stood up a lot.  However, the Lord always provides!  We were at our 4th appointment, and drained.  It was an older women in these apartments.  We buzzed her apartment number and there was no response.  Ugh.  We had to fill up our water bottles and go to the bathroom so we went inside to the main lobby area and did that.  My companions started walking towards an exit we usually don't use and I didn't feel like saying anything.  So I just went with it.  As we were walking, I saw this woman in the distance.  She was big and black and looked exactly like Sister Short in the ward.  I said, "Sisters, that lady in the purple is in the ward, her name is Sister Short."  As we got closer, it didn't look so much like Sister Short.  But she said, "Hello ladies."  And so I was like, "Oh it is Sister Short!"  We said, "Hello back."  And started out the exit.  The thought came again though... "That may not be Sister Short."  So I obeyed the prompting and said, "Wait, what's your name?"  And she's like, "Susan Byrd.  I was hopin' you'd stop and talk to me."  We came back inside and I said, "You look just like this woman we know.  I'm sorry, I kind of assumed you were her!"  She said it's not a problem and asked if we could come visit her sometime.  Since our appointment had fallen through we asked her if we could visit right now.  She excitedly said, "Of course!  Come on up!"  On the elevator up she said, "I'm so happy I ran into you.  I knew I needed to go down and get my mail right then.  The Lord knew I needed you."  My companions and I kept looking at each other with wide eyes, just amazed at this receptive woman.  Long story short, thirty years ago she fed Elders all the time and had been to church and loved it.  She said she remembers feeling so good there.  As we taught her about the restoration she said, "I feel so touched inside when you talk.  I almost feel like crying."  We explained how that is the holy ghost witnessing that this is true.  We set her with a baptismal date that day!  She LOVED church yesterday and sits with all the old ladies.  She was hugging and kissing us after church saying she loved it.  It is moments like this that make me want to be a missionary forever.  She is GOLDEN, seeds were planted years ago by other missionaries and Heavenly Father placed her in our path that afternoon to help her recieve the blessings of the gospel! 

 After that, on our way home we met a Brazilian man and wife.  They speak pretty good English and are looking for a church to go to.  They have three kids too.  We taught them with a member on Saturday who speaks portugese and they came to church too!  They are from Manaus, Brazil.  Their names are Kennedy, Neto, Alice, Aline, and Adalena. Well, I have to get going but I'll attach some recent pictures.  I love you so much!

 p.s. Amanda had a temple reccomend interview yesterday and is going to do baptisms on August 28th with the Ithaca Ward!  Neat huh?