Dear Loved Ones (this includes all who read this letter),
Wow, what a week! It was one of those weeks that I was truly being humbled from my own mistakes while miracles were shooting off like fireworks all around me (in honor of the 4th coming up ;)! Jesus Christ is SO merciful. He loves us so much and is our best friend. He cheers us on when we do what is right and mourns when we sin. He is my leader, my Savior, my God.
Culver is moving along at a rapid pace and continues to pick up. It filled my heart with joy to see our gospel principles class on Sunday be filled even out into the hall a little bit with less actives and investigators. God has a work to be done and oh how great it is to be a part of it!
This week a miracle happened that testified an important priciple to me. That is the principle of "patient diligence works miracles". There is a family in our area named the Maroules family and the wife is a member who has been inactive since her youth. The husband is not a member and none of the kids are either. Their family has had missionaries over for years trying to get them to investigate and come to church with no luck. Over the years, life has gotten harder and harder for the family to the point where they didn't know where to turn anymore. Well luckily we have a patient and persistent Heavenly Father who sends his servants to prune the vineyard!
Anyways, we went over to talk to Jason Maroules (the husband) and as we were talking to him his walls just started to crumble and he started asking us questions about the church and we ended up teaching a partial restoration lesson and resolved some of his concerns. The Spirit was so strong and at the end he said, "Well I think it is about time we come to church," and as we were leaving he told us that he really liked when we came over to talk to him and to stop by anytime. We were so happy that there was finally progress with the Maroules family! Also President Kelly was elated to hear the news, he has been making sure missionaries keep on them for a long time.
There were miracles like that and many other great things that happened this week. Even though I have been really weak this transfer compared to the rest of my mission, I have come to the realization and applied it into my life that when we can realize that the Lord is allowing us to go through a trial to learn something, if we ask what it is that He wants us to learn, we can work through our trials and the Lord's work can still carry on as planned. That has brought me great comfort.
So on a funny side note: I LOVE LIVING IN HOOSIER-TOPIA! There are hill-billies and rednecks galore here. Our neighbor knocked on our door around 10pm while we were planning and when we opened the door to see him standing there holding a homade bomb and reaking with the smell of weed. The first thing he said to us was "Hey guys, feel how heavy this quarter stick of dynamite I made is!" Then he continued to tell us what kind of damage it would do.... HA!
That is just a taste of Indiana for you. Last night we stopped to take a picture of a stop sign that was all shot up from some hoosier and as we got out three teenage boys came riding down the road, two of them on a moped, the third hanging off the back in a long board. They stopped and asked us where the closest gas station was and then asked if we would be offended if they took a leak off the side of the road. It was pretty grand :)
Well I love you all and hope all is going well for you. Continue to forge your bond between you and God, it is the best thing we can do in this life.
Sincerely,
Elder Young
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