Hello fellow Americans! Time to tell you about my week as a missionary! 

The freezing cold weather decided to leave faster than it came. Now it's sunny and I don't even need a coat! Gotta love Missouri weather! The snow melted quickly and we have been enjoying not trudging through the snow. 

Here's the update on the people we are teaching...

Crystal- we set a baptismal date with her for the February first. She was excited and we were thrilled. Then the other night she texts us and says, "The Mormon isn't for me" and Sister Smith freaked out.. I called Crystal and figured out she just had a bad day. We came over the next day with cookies and made her feel better. She didn't make it to church Sunday because of work so we have to move her date back a week but she said she would do her best to get Sundays off. Hopefully that happens soon. 

Natalie- Yesterday after church we went to go teach her the third lesson with a sister in the branch. Before we got started she said that she had decided to stay Lutheran. She thanked us for our time and said that we helped her come back to where she felt she needed to be. We were devastated. She did ask about the trinity and what we believe about that. We explained how we know that God and Jesus Christ are two separate beings and that they are one in purpose and that the Holy Spirit is a personage of spirit and does not have a body of flesh and bone. How God communicates to us through the Spirit and all that. Then when I asked what her church believed she didn't really have an answer. I was so so heart-broken. She wanted to stay with her faith she was comfortable in but her church doesn't even help her know the nature of God. I wanted her to know the truth so bad. I wanted her to know that she has a loving Heavenly Father who is literally her father and that Christ is the Son of God- her older brother. But people have their agency and we have to respect their ability to choose. 

Allie- We had lunch with Allie and another member of our branch and it went really well, we thought. We had good conversation and invited her to come to church. She said she'd come and that we could come over afterwards for lunch and a discussion. Sunday came and she never showed. We haven't heard from her since. 

Then there were other people that Sister Smith had been teaching before I came here like Chen Xing who we walked all the way to her house to find out she moved back to CHINA! :( haha.. then our other investigator Kaity... well she just made some life decisions that has made it so that she'd probably be in a family ward now. 

But hey, the Church is still true and it always will be! The best part of my week was getting mail every single day! I want to thank everyone who has sent me letters- it made me so happy to see my name on those letters every single time! Thank you thank you thank you!!! 

You are also welcome to email me at alexa.collett@myldsmail.net

Love you all!!!