Owosso, MI March 26. 2018

March 26, 2018

Hey!

We are going to be (hopefully) getting our phones tomorrow at Zone Conference. Everybody is really excited about that haha. I also talked to President Brennan about going home a transfer early and he said "The Brethren discourage going home a transfer early for schooling. Do you think you could make arrangements for school that would not require an early release? E.g., going on a block?". I don't know what to do now. I feel like I should go home a transfer early so that I can do a full semester at BYU-I. I mean, how would I get my housing situated if I got home on January 30? Then I would just leave straight from home and not even really have a chance to get situated and into a normal routine or really be able to hang out with you guys. I don't know what to do.

But anyway, this week was kind of long. We had tradeoffs on Monday night through Tuesday. It was fun! I was with Sister Farley! She is a ton of fun! I loved getting to know her on tradeoffs! We had a lot of lessons this week with our investigators. We still have Jayleigh and David on date. David's baptism is going to have to be pushed back though because he and his brother Keith have been sick for two weeks and we haven't been able to meet with him. He is still wanting to get baptized though and he and his brother are reading the Book of Mormon together! So cool! We don't know if Jay went to church in the Holt ward yesterday or not. We are hoping that she did. We will find out tonight if she did. This week we have been trying to meet with a lot of people who haven't been super active in the church for a couple of years. We have Sister Kimberly Anderson as someone we are now meeting with regularly. She has come to church since we knocked on her door! She is amazing. She has the kindest heart ever! She is giving up smoking but she says that it is going pretty well for her. We also went and visited the Bates family (which is where most of the pictures will come from this week) which was a lot of fun. They just sent their oldest son, Mosiah, on a mission. He is at the MTC right now and will be heading out to Las Vegas soon! They all really miss him. He has really young siblings. The next oldest after Mosiah is Avram who is 6, then Ella who is 4, Abel who is 2, and the baby was born in October. So, there is quite an age gap in between Mosiah and the rest of his siblings. But they are such a cute family!!

I love you all and hope that you are all sharing the gospel proudly! The gospel is true and it really does change lives. LIVE the gospel. SHARE the gospel. Become who God needs you to be. Let him mold you and shape you. Yes, at times it may hurt and you may want to fight against him, but God knows what he is doing. He knows our full potential.

Hey dad!

I love hearing from you! I am so grateful that you had that experience! Continue to reach out in love to Brother Standridge. It all starts with members reaching out in love to those who are struggling with the gospel that helps bring them back to church. It also helps their family come to church as well. Tell him that I am proud of him for doing something that must've really scared him! I'm sure he did great! If it's alright, do you think you could send me your talk as well as his? I would love to read them! I have been learning a lot about the Atonement this week. We went on trade offs on Monday with the Sister Training Leaders on MSU campus. Sister Farley and I were companions for a day. It was great. She noticed that I was struggling. So, instead of asking the normal questions that we always get asked, she asked her own questions. When we finally got to the end of the questions, we were both able to figure out that I put walls up without realizing it. When I came to that realization, I literally felt a weight lift from off of my shoulders. It is amazing what the Atonement does. Christ himself is always there to help carry our burdens. We are not here on this earth to do anything alone. Not one thing. Ever. We are supposed to turn to the Lord and let him help us. It is so hard to not let the Savior help us carry our burdens. You feel like you are getting crushed. It honestly hurts. I learned a lot about prayer from that experience as well. Tell the Lord everything in your prayers. Yell at him if you need to! He already knows what we are going through and how we feel. But he is not going to help us until we lay everything at his feet and ask him for help. That's all it takes. Doesn't that show how merciful our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ are? It is amazing to know that they love us so much that they are always willing to help us. No matter what. But we have to act in faith and give everything to him first, so that he is able to help.

I love you dad! I am grateful for you and all that you teach me!

Love ya! Have a great week!

-Sister Summer Freeman

Libby the dog and her owner Pearl, studying at BYUI pathway and getting ready for a mission.