January 9, 2012

Howdy Y'all!

This week has been a miracle! I love Tyler Texas!

Just so you know, when you think of Texas and think of gator huntin’ and people with such drawls that you can't understand them you are picturing east Texas. Tyler is such a great place! To top it all off, the members here are so excited to do missionary work! They all have people they are actively sharing the gospel with. It has been a different challenge being doubled into an area. Neither of us have any idea what is going on, or where we are. It really helps us rely on the lord. I don't know if I have prayed more my mission than I have the past seven days. On the other hand, I don't think I have seen so many miracles in one week. On Wednesday night we dropped by the church to try and meet some members of the church, and one of the ward members the night before was at the stake center playing basketball and met a man(Demetrius Johnson) that was looking for the closest LDS building near him. For the past 4 months he has been actively attending a church in Pasadina Texas. He has been driving three and a half hours every week to go to church. The member that met him gave us his number and we invited him to the baptism one of the other elders was going to be having. He came with us to see it, and he wants to be baptized on the 21st of January! He has been reading the Book of Mormon, the “Gospel Principles” manual, “True to the Faith”, and the “For Strength of Youth” pamphlet. He is currently trying to find himself a "Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith" manual. He is very excited!

Another miracle was just all of Sunday. We had 1 person that was just driving by that decided to come in and attend church, then there were 2 members that just brought some relatives. Those are just the bigger miracles, but ever since we got here to Tyler, Elder Johnson and I have just witnessed miracle after miracle. We are absolutely loving the area and loving the ward and the investigators! We are so excited to be here and we have a lot to look forward to!

Love,
Elder Layton