August 1, 2012

Hey, Everyone!
As I write this, Paul, Carly, & Kristin are already at the cabin. Catherine, Sarah, Mark & the girls are headed to Jerome. They will head up to the cabin tomorrow. We are really happy that they are all getting together for a few days.
Also, Sarah & Mark have chosen a name for our first grandson. He will be David Mark Sandridge. Is that awesome or what??? He has a name!!! He will be here before we know it. I have got to get sewing going soon.
We were sorry to hear about the passing of Dr. Harold Lloyd this week. Our thought and prayers are with his family. I'll bet Lou Ann is excited!
We have enjoyed our week. We have found several really cool people and we always love that. We have also found several people who we have been looking for for months. They do not want to have the church in their lives, but at least we know and can quit searching for them. We have, however, had some neat finding experiences which I will share.
On Sunday we were looking for a new family that has moved into the ward. Their house is not in a great neighborhood and we had trouble finding it. Our GPS would said it was on there, but it did not appear to be there. It ended up being down a somewhat narrow alleyway. We asked a group of people who were gathered around a home. They were not at all friendly. But we went down around and found a very friendly family who have moved in from Wisconsin. They are related to some people in the ward who need rides and will start providing them for them. We are hoping that will happen soon.
On the way there, Elder H stopped along the street in a place I was not too thrilled about. A lady came hobbling over and asked us if we were there to buy their car. We apologized and said no. (He just wanted to look up an address.) We went on down the street and he suddenly stopped about a block away. He remembered an Intellius address for one of the members who we have searched for a lot . Thinking we might as well stop while we were on that street, we turned around. It was the lady we had already talked to. Well, in reality it was her boyfriend who is the member. He was not very interested in talking to us. She was very friendly until she realized that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the Mormon Church. She then told us that she belongs to the Methodist Church and her uncle is the pastor. She does not want to make a change. We were talking further and it came up that she has had a had life. She "lost" a four year old. I told her that we believe that families are forever and that she would see him again. Her whole countenance changed and she said, "I have been waiting for someone to tell me that." She was really excited. She said that she wants all of her family to meet with us. She said that there are four of them living there that need to hear and need help to come to Jesus. We are going to be going back this week, we hope. I was excited that Elder H had the thought of this address come to him.
We went to another man's house this week and he stepped out and said, "Did my brother send you?" He would not believe that he did not. (We have gone to this house a half a dozen times and not found anyone at home.) We had a wonderful visit with him. He was raised in the church and fell away when he joined the service years ago. He met his wife while he was stationed in Germany. They have traveled all around. She is a part of an ancient sect that exists in Germany. He said that he will for sure return to his roots in the gospel... just not right now. They travel a lot. Anyway, I asked him if he still has his Book of Mormon and he does not. I asked him if he would like one and he got really excited. So we gave him one a long with a Joseph Smith pamphlet and a family proclamation. We are hoping it will start some conversations between him and his wife. We left our numbers. She was leaving this week to go on a trip to India, so it will be awhile. Hopefully, he will read this week.
It seems like for several days everyone we found asked if their sister or brother sent us. It was funny.
We found a wonderful young single mom who is studying to get into medical school. We are having a family home evening with them soon. (She only has her kids every other week.)
Our ward had a great barbecue on Saturday out at Eagle Lake in Fort Custer. It is a beautiful place. My camera went dead before I got photos of the lake.

Andrew, Christina, & Ben Slachter

Sister Fletcher & Loic

I looked up and this was taking place. Hope it's not irreverent to take a picture of  this blessing. I just thought it was cool.

After the ward party was over, we went to a bowling alley for Jake Clay's birthday party. We were happy to be invited. He was baptized a few weeks ago. He and his family come to our house every week for dinner, a lesson, and UNO. They are wonderful. They were supposed to be moving to Dayton, Ohio, but that is not going to happen until next summer. We were sad for them and happy for us. We really enjoy them. They had  lots of family and friends at the party. (I had the high bowling score of the night. 123. One of my all-time highs. Ha! I owe it all to bumper pads!) They had pizza and cake. I made Jake a giant cookie cake, too, as that is what he wanted instead of regular cake.

Tonight we took Sandy and Joe Cooper to the church for Sandy to be interviewed by the zone leaders for her baptism. She will baptized this Saturday. We are very excited for her. She has been four weeks without cigarettes tomorrow. Her husband is quitting now, too. We took them and Kevin Ramsey to McDonald's after our missionary meeting for dinner. The Fales came along, too. We sat and visited for a long time. While we were waiting for the missionary meeting, Elder Patterson came running up and asked me to come to the other foyer. He said there was a lady there who was coming back to church for the first time since 1978. I went hurrying down the hall. I introduced myself and sat down beside her. She is active in the church. She has just moved her and was ill for four months before she came. Poor Elder Patterson thought he was seeing a miracle. She had a friend with her though who is not a member. She has a doctorate in religion. She is coming on Sunday and will meet with the elders.

We are thankful for the Atonement of the Savior. We are seeing his love work in the hearts of the people here, as well as our own. It is incredible. There is a lady who has been coming for several weeks. Her family got on her case and told her that we live plural marriage, that we worship Joseph Smith, that we don't believe in the Bible. She was upset. We thought when she called last week to say that she wasn't going to come to church, that something was wrong, but she would not say. She said we would talk on Wednesday. We were there today. We, along with the elders, were able to answer her questions. She said that she got up on Sunday morming, climbed the stairs to her bathroom to have a shower, (that is really hard for her.) got all dressed up and hoped we would come anyway. She had been adament that she was not going so we did not go. I don't think people will be able to talk her out of coming again. She loves coming to church and feels great when she is there. I wish she had called. She sat there all morning dressed up and feeling sad that she missed church.

We had another great experience on Sunday evening. We have been searching several address for a man, unsuccessfully. Well, the elders knocked on his door. They invited him to church, not knowing he is a member. He came one Sunday and has not been back. Well, we wanted to go visit him. With the help of the elders, we found his house. He was not happy to see us. He told us that he was going to keep going to the church he has been attending that is in the neighborhood. (That seems to be how many choose their church here...close proximity to their homes.) Well, I was ready to go.  Elder H just kept talking to him. He was really full of the Spirit. It ended up great. I am pretty sure he will come on Sunday. He shared the inner most feelings of his heart with us. It was amazing. The church is really what he is looking for. He is a priest. We are encouraging him to come and be active in his priesthood and to serve in the ward. Hope he comes.

Anyway, the Lord's work continues to go forth here in Battle Creek. I know that He lives. I am happy to be here.

We love you all. We are praying for you.