Hi Friends!

I never know how to start my emails so I'm going to start with a random thought. Why do drive- up atm's have brail? Just something for you all to think about. Well it has been a tremendous week here in Delaware Ohio! The weather has been absolutely perfect and the work this week has been incredible.

At the beginning of the week we met again with our wonderful mission president and his wife for interviews. He is so great! When I went in for my interview about halfway through he said to me, "you seem mature, how old are you?" I laughed and told him I was 20 and it surprised him.  He had me share my favorite scripture which is a hard thing for a missionary to do since every scripture is amazing, but I picked a scripture in Alma 26. I realized how much like Ammon we are. Ammon had three assignments. The first was to be a servant, the second was to tend the flocks and the third was to gather the sheep. Aren't we just like Ammon?! We as members of the church are to be the Lord's servants. We are to tend the flock and uplift and serve those around us and we are to find those lost sheep and bring them into the fold.

Miracle number one of the week came on Wednesday morning. Sister Schauers and I were having our regular companionship study when all of the sudden the phone rang. We ran to see who it was and were ecstatic when it was a number we didn't recognize. We answered and found a man on the other line. He said to us, "You came to my house the other day and talked briefly about religion and left me with your card. I have been studying your religion, and instead of trying to find my answers online I figured I would go to the source, so I called you." Rewind this story to a few days prior when we knocked on this man's door and  he did not look interested at all. In fact I remember turning to Sister Schauers as we walked away and saying to her, "man we blew it." And here he was days later calling us to find out more about our church! It was a miracle for many reasons. Reason number one....most missionaries know that most people toss the cards as soon as they get them. So him keeping the card was a miracle in itself. Reason number two he went online to lds.org and researched our religion a little more instead of going to false websites. Reason number three, he had sincere questions and so he called us. In our district meeting that day we were telling the other missionaries the story and one of the AP's said, "Man I've been waiting my whole mission for someone to call from a pass along card!"

Our second miracle of the week was with our amazing investigator named Sam. Sam is 16 years old and really has never had a belief in God of Jesus Christ. She never denied their existence, but at the same time she never really believed they were there. We started meeting with her about a month ago and she was actually a referral from one of the youth in our ward. She was in London for a family vacation and had returned to Ohio this week. We were extremely excited to meet with her again after it had been over a week. We knew we had to figure out where she stood and if her faith and belief had increased. She shared a personal experience with us that touched my heart. While on her trip she and her family were ready to get home, but things weren't working out. She said she prayed they would be able to get home. We were taken back for a second we said wait Sam, you prayed?! She said yes, and then she explained how her prayer was answered. It was so neat to see her recognize that she was talking to a higher being and that her prayer truly was answered. We then pulled out our scriptures to read a scripture with her and I noticed her scriptures had sticky note tabs all over the place. I said to her, "Sam have you been reading!?" She said, "yes I have been reading 5 pages everyday. I am on page 65." We were blown away and better yet, she understood what she was reading. She loved Lehi's vision on the tree of life. She put herself into that story and told us that is how she felt right now in her life. Since she has been to church she has had friends mock her and question her, but she feels like she needs to hold onto the "iron rod" because she knows what lies in store.

There are miracles all around us. This is just two of the many I have seen this last week. This week we also met with a less active family. I had a great time talking to Dan, the elderly father about old western movies. At the end of our visit Dan offered a prayer. In his prayer he said, "Heavenly Father we are grateful for
these sister missionaries. They remind us of our children, but they are a lot easier to get along with." We had a great laugh at that one.

This gospel is incredible. It is life changing. There are so many out there who do not have this joy in their lives, it is our duty to not deny them of those blessings.

I love you guys! Have a tremendous week!

Love Sister Mathis