Losing Lizzie

Hello,

Thanks for the idea to give Rose a Daughters in My Kingdom book, Mom! I think that's a great idea and that she will LOVE it. Did I tell you we are going to get her the Book of Mormon on CD? So that she can listen to it in the car going to and from work. She's excited for them. Don and Rose are doing so well!!!!! They are really working on keeping the Word of Wisdom and and starting to smoke MUCH less than they were. They are also working on giving up coffee, though Rose is a little more hesitant on that one. Seeing how far she has come with everything else though, I'm not too worried about it. She told Brother Anderson and Brother Ioannou (ee-oo-wa-noo) yesterday that she can tell a difference in her week from when she goes to church and when she doesn't. She knows that when she comes to church she'll be able to get through the week no matter what happens. !!!!!! SO EXCITING! Brother Anderson and Ioannou went over yesterday to give them both a blessing because Rose has been having some health problems and Don still has lots of pain from his osteoarthritis (and they are trying to quit smoking) and today Don said that they both felt warm all over when they gave them the blessings. (Happy! Happy! Happy! That's what that makes me.)

We also asked Don if he would cut our hair for us and the other missionaries close by because he was a barber for 41 years but can't work now because of his osteoarthritis and he got so excited! It was awesome to be able to see like that. Sister Stewart came up with the idea as a way to help him feel like he is needed. He also found out what our family crest is apparently. He really likes family history work... He is so funny. I wish you could all meet him.

About Sister Stewart: She is really sweet and very genuine and sincere. She has so much love for our brothers and sisters all around us! She has had some really great insights for our investigators already, and I think she will be a wonderful companion to work with. She is really focused on meeting the needs of everyone we meet and I want to learn from that example.

A crazy tale, which I like to call "Losing Lizzie": Thursday afternoon we decided to stop by Lizzie (I think I told you about the miracle of how we found her, right?) She had to cancel our second appointment, and we never heard from her after that, so when her name came to mind on Thursday, we decided to follow up with the impression. Well Lizzie wasn't there. And neither was her house. I swear it was like Harry Potter and 12 Grimmauld Place. Only there were no missing numbers! Just her missing house! I had written down that it was number 4, but I KNOW it wasn't number 4. Number 1 was abandoned just as I remembered and I am 99.9% positive that it wasn't house number 2 or 3 either. I seriously have no idea what happened to her house! It still boggles my mind.

After feeling a little out of sorts for the whole losing Lizzie incidence on Sister Stewart's first real day of working in Woodridge, in combination with a couple of epically failed stop-by's to some potentials, I was struggling. We had planned to stop by Mario who is the most golden potential (very soon to be current) investigator EVER, but it was still early and we needed more to do before seeing him. We decided to try a less active member in our ward, Jess. She was home! Which was a miracle in itself, and then she let us in. We had a really great discussion with her about how she wants to come back to church and be a better mom and all that good stuff. Sister Stewart had some divine revelation to make a calendar with her to help her set goals to get back on track and she was really excited about doing that. We went back to see her today, but her son was sick, so we said a prayer with them and are going to reschedule. Then we went to see Mario and it was so great! We have an appointment with him tomorrow. He is seriously so awesome! He wants to do what is right SO BADLY! But he just hasn't known where to look, or that there are other people out there like him. We are really excited to finally be able to start teaching him.

Another MIRACLE: On Friday we went to work on Cherokee Dr, and it was my turn to pray. I prayed that we would "find a miracle" and that singular use of the word turned out to be quite significant. (Usually I would have said "miracleS" but this time it just felt like I should be more specific.) We knocked a few doors, and then someone pulled up into the driveway as we were approaching. We waited for her and then told her who we were. We could tell she was having a rough day, so when we showed up she had some groceries to take in we offered to help. She said that she would be alright, but we both just stayed. When she realized we weren't going anywhere, she agreed to let us help. We took them in for her and then she had us sit down. We learned that she had some breathing problems, so the help with the groceries was actually a HUGE blessing to her! Then she told us some of her story and the difficult things she is going through right now. (The crazy part is that as she was telling her story, part of what she said was something that I KNOW I have heard her say before in a dream or something! I know I have some sort of connection with this dear Sister now and the Lord has a work for me and Sister Stewart to do in helping her) We were able to share the Book of Mormon with her and promise her that as she reads she will feel peace and our Heavenly Father's love for her. We set a return appointment as well. She needs us, and we were all able to recognize the Lord's hand in bringing us together. She mentioned that she had been wandering around the store and then decided it was time to come home. If she had come two minutes later, we would have completely missed her.

Sister Stewart and I have been working really hard this week, and I am exhausted! It's a really good exhaustion though, because I know I'm working hard and we have met some really incredible people. I love you so much!!!!!!

How are Grandma and Grandpa doing? How about Norah? The rest of my wonderful family?

Love YOUS! (apparently it's a Chicago thing to say "yous"...)

Sister Hatch