New Companion

Howdy Y'all!

Wow this week has been a crazy one. Last Tuesday Elder Duke and I were about to step out of the car to tract a street and we got a phone call. The ringtone was really weird though, we sort of looked at each other and said, "I've never heard the phone make that noise before". Well, we answered the phone and it was the assistants telling Elder Duke to be packed and ready to go in about 2 hours because he was being transferred to Plano. So we spent our last 2 hours together helping him get packed. So that night I got a new companion, Elder Lyman from Riverside California. So far, I have been very lucky with my companions. Two absolutely solid ones in a row! Ha-ha, he is awesome. So even though Elder Duke is gone, Elder Lyman and I are still working hard here in Rockwall! I love seeing our teaching pool grow just from working hard every day! It truly is a blessing to see on a daily basis! I just pray that we can work harder every day and can eventually be the missionaries Heavenly Father wants us to be, which I still have a long way to go!

Spiritual highlight of the week:

We have been teaching Kevin Usrey for a while now, and loving seeing him grow. He has a hard time with some comprehension, so we gave him a "Book of Mormon stories" book to help him understand. So now, he's reading the Book of Mormon alongside the picture book, and he's reading WAY ahead in the picture book. He's all the way up to Abinadi last time we talked to him and he's in 1 Nephi 16 in the BOM. Anyways, we taught him the plan of salvation, he received it well, at the end, we asked him to offer the prayer, and to our surprise, he accepted. He gave one of the best, most heartfelt prayers I've ever heard. When we first contacted him, he said he hasn't prayed in years but we felt the spirit so strong as he prayed! I think the Lord has big things in store for Kevin. He is a great man!

Anyways, I love you all and miss you!
Love Elder Layton