This last week was great. We found a lot of new investigators and the work is picking up again. We got two investigators to come to church and a less active! Woop! We also set a baptismal date with Donna's son Brandon! He's getting baptized on the 23rd of August! We are super excited.

Tuesday we taught Steve in his tree house! Steve is 66 and is keeping his commitments. He reads from the Book of Mormon but gets frustrated when he doesn't understand. The member that joined our lesson, Brother Tripp, gave him the perfect advice. He asked him if he tried praying. That lead into the rest of our lesson that was about Heavenly Father and praying to him. He's excited to learn and we have faith that his relationship with God is growing.

Wednesday we went to mutual because they had a BBQ and were all told to bring their non-member friends. A lot of them came and we got to do some ice blocking- which was really fun. Once people started to leave we realized it was getting late and we told the Elders and they said, "We only have to be home by 9:30 if we're teaching a lesson." So I said, "Let's teach a lesson then!" Of course this conversation was loud enough for the non-member girls to hear and I asked them casually if we could teach them about the gospel. "Sure!" the two of them responded and we sat down in the grass and taught them the restoration with their friend who is a member. Sister Linton and I did a tag team lesson with the Elders and it was fun to teach with four people. The spirit was strong and the girls said they would really look into the church. At the end of it their friend that invited them bore her testimony and it was awesome to see her sharing this with her close friends. The girls live in the Elders area so they will be the ones teaching them but it was a cool experience and I'm excited to hear about their progression.

We also talked to Alexandra who came with a kid in our ward. She had a lot of questions and we got to build a relationship with her and tell her what we do as missionaries! We are having dinner with the Jarvis family tonight and they invited her to come. Hopefully we will get to teach her more about the gospel.

Thursday we went to a less-actives home and had lunch with her. Sister Tipp made a delicious homemade Italian lunch and it was fun to spend some time with her. We talked to her about the sacrament and she said she really wanted to come back to church. Then she did! :)

Saturday we knocked on tons of doors and found many people that were interested and many that were not. It was cool to be able to find people that genuinely want to learn more. We will be teaching a lot of them tomorrow and I'm excited to see where it goes!

Feels like we had summer for about a month and now it's turning into fall! The leaves are already changing and the weather is beautiful! Keep enjoying your summer and send me a letter if you get a second. ;)

Love you all so much!

Sister Collett

 don't know if it's because it's summer time and everyone's on the move or what but things are really slowing down over here. It's funny to compare different parts of my mission- like how just a few months ago things were insane and we never had enough time to teach and baptize all the people we were seeing! Aaand now we are mostly knocking on doors in the HUMID heat just desperate for someone to listen to the great news we have to share. 

The work may be slow but our spirits are high! I'm still just happy to be a missionary and love being with Sister Linton. We find joy in the simple things. And when we fight, it's really funny and we always end up laughing. She has five brothers so if she's annoyed with me she'll just tackle me. Actions speak louder than words right?

So there is one guy named Steve who we taught this past week I want to talk about. We found him tracting a while back and gave him a Book of Mormon. We met with him on Thursday and he had read most of 1st Nephi! Smart guy. Oh and we had a lesson in his treehouse! He's an engineer and has a beautiful garden and his office is up in a treehouse he built. Pretty cool to teach the first discussion in a tree. He loves to read and is really open to learning. He has known Mormons in the past and always loves them. So teaching him about the restoration was good and we are going to meet with him again tomorrow hopefully and see how he's doing. He really enjoyed our discussion.

Then there is Antonio. This guy is legit. He's a rap artist and apparently is really good because he's starting to get pretty big in St. Louis. He was a former taught by Elders a long time ago and he was taught everything. The only thing holding him back from baptism was his girlfriend that doesn't believe in the Joseph Smith story. Luckily though we have started to teach him and he is really progressing. This guy has a heart of gold and loves his kids. His little boy has downs and is a little cutie. One of Antonio's concerns is the temptations of the world because of the kind of lifestyle comes with being a musician. He believes in the things he has been taught and wants to follow Jesus Christ. One day while studying in Alma I read a chapter in Alma 5 that I knew was what we needed to share with him. We taught it to him that day and it really got through to him. He was brought to tears and we shared our testimonies and experiences. I have high hopes that Antonio is going to get baptized. We just need to get his girlfriend in on it... and they need to get married. But I have faith! 

Well, have fun soaking up summer everybody! Jump in some water for me! ;) 

Love,

Sister Collett

Last P-Day was sick! We went to Paint Louis (which is a wall in downtown St. Louis where people tag along this suuuuper long wall down by the railroad tracks). Most people tag illegally but our awesome Zone Leaders got a permit to tag on a section of the wall so we could all tag! It was super fun and I felt cool. B-)

Our Zone is St. Louis South Zone and our Zone leader did the fish. Pretty sweet, huh? Mine is supposed to look like a telephone with the cord spelling out my favorite song, "Call it What You Want". My companion did the CTR shield in the corner on the right. Oh and I did the Sister one too.

The rest of the week was full of finding and service! We tracted and found a new investigator from Brazil! She was super cool and we said we would get her a Book of Mormon in Portuguese! We found another one on that street that was from India originally. Pretty cool. By the way, for those of you who have never served a mission- the way that we decide where to tract is by inspiration. I don't know if I've said this before but what we do it we pray and ask Heavenly Father to tell us where to go. Then we look at a map of our area and each of us write down five street names that we feel prompted to tract. Then we read our little list to each other and see which street names match up. It's really cool that we can look at a map of a huge area and be inspired to know which street to tract. I love this work!

We taught a lot and even got to go to the temple! Donna and John got to go to the temple to do baptisms for the first time and they both had really incredible experiences. I can't tell you how much I love seeing people grow in their faith and in the gospel. It is so awesome. Sister Linton and I got to do a session with our ward which was a nice opportunity. I love this temple.

So our investigator Ian dropped us... BUT our neighbor Noel is progressing a lot! We went to Sunday Mass at his beautiful Catholic church on Sunday and it was a cool experience. Then he came to our church and LOVED it! I've never seen him so happy. He loved how welcoming and nice everyone was and I'm sure he felt the spirit. The ward is really excited about the work which makes things a lot better for the work. 

My MOM is a great example of a member willing to serve! I learned today that she went to do some new member lessons with recent converts in the ward! Woohoo!! Go mom! :) She's the best. 

Donna sang a beautiful song in church on Sunday that really brought the spirit. It was a duet with a man in our ward that also has a great voice. I think Noel really enjoyed it. Things are good here just trying to find more people to baptize! The heat really isn't as bad as everyone said it would be. I love my mission! It's beautiful and I'm so grateful to be out here serving the Lord. Thank you to everyone who has supported and shown me love. 

Keep smiling!

Sister Collett

Hola familia y amigos!

Hope everyone enjoyed their 4th of July! Missouri is suuuuper patriotic! EVERYONE decorated their yards in flags and we still are hearing fireworks going off at night. So fun. But for the 4th Sister Linton and I spent the entire day helping people move in and move out. A less-active family that was leaving and a new family that was moving in. It was fun to get to do some service but then when four o'clock rolled around we were pretty tired. We went to a members home for dinner and came home to get ready to go downtown and just ended up sleeping. When we woke up we both did not like the idea of driving downtown at night in heavy traffic and swimming in a sea of people under the arch. Aaand so we stayed in and just relaxed. It was kind of a bummer to miss out on the fireworks but we both just decided to take it easy for once. We enjoyed our decorations and sparklers that mom sent to us. Thanks mom!! :) Oh and she sent me a cute 4th of July outfit that was fun to wear... yeah she's the best missionary mom ever!

Since the week was basically a holiday we didn't do a lot of teaching. Mostly service and trying to find new people to teach. We also met our new Mission President who is very different from President Clark. He kinda reminds me of Dad a little bit just because he is a business guy and is a really hard worker. I feel like he is going to bring a lot of new things to this mission and he seems to be very nice. I especially like his wife :) She's cute. They have a daughter who is going to be a senior in high school next year. She's cute too.

SO we have two baptismal dates set. One is with a 9 year-old boy named Ares who is the son of a less-active in the ward. We have been working with her a lot and she's been coming to church more and said we could teach her son. His baptismal date is set for August 3rd- which is also the date we set for our 13-year-old investigator Ian. He's doing great but we really need to get in to teach his mom so that she knows what we are teaching him and so that we can hopefully help her to see the truth as well. 

Yesterday at church, John received the Aaronic Priesthood! He now holds a temple recommend and will be going to the temple on Friday to do baptisms for the dead. I AM SO EXCITED. He is going to love the temple. Donna should be coming as well, I don't think she's had her interview yet for a recommend but she is excited to go as well. 

Today we are going to Paint Louis for our Zone P-Day and we are going to do some sweet art there. :) I'll be sure to send pictures. Miss and love you all! Hope you are enjoying the summer!

Love,

Sister Collett

This week went by SO fast!!! I can't tell you how fast things go as a missionary when you are happy and working hard. Sister Linton is so fun and she has great charity. She serves me and is a light to have around. We teach well together and the spirit is strong between the two of us.

Today I am emailing a little later than usual because we found out that the St. Louis Art Museum was open today! Which almost never happens. It's usually closed on Mondays but they opened up a new exhibit so we went first thing this morning. It was super fun! I love art!  

But this morning we cleaned and did laundry while we decorated the whole apartment with patriotic things that mom sent me! It looks so cute and I will have to take pictures to send to you guys. But I am excited for the Fourth because we are going to go downtown to the arch and it should be pretty spectacular. On Thursday we stop proselyting at 4pm and can be out till 10:30! We are going to be so tired haha I usually get tired around 8:00!

So some sad news on our baptisms we were planning for this month... yesterday they both dropped us. We just got texts from both of them at different times of the day that said they had changed their minds and are going to stick with their old church. I'm not gonna lie- I was pretty bummed about it. Especially since no one came to church that day either. BUT the Lord is at the head of this work and that just means we are two people closer to finding those who are truly ready to come into the fold. 

Basically, I don't remember last week because it went by so fast... either does Sister Linton. But I do know that last Monday we bought matching nighties that we love coming home to because they are so comfy! Haha! 

We taught Ian a couple of times and we are still trying to get his mom to talk with us. Super nice lady- just seems kind of shy. 

We visited Brian and Melissa who have felt too pressured... They didn't feel ready for baptism and didn't like feeling like they had to be baptized so quickly. We said that they don't have to be baptized in order to attend our church and we just want them to have the blessings of becoming a member. That made them feel a lot better. We promised to no longer push him to set a baptismal date and he was happy about that. We will still teach them once a week as they continue to grow and learn. 

New people are moving into the ward which is really fun. Our recent converts are doing well and our ward council is taking good care of them. We have found  new investigators to teach- we are just trying to find solid ones who are prepared to come unto the Lord with full purpose of heart. 

Our new Mission President is in St. Louis and we will be meeting him on Tuesday at a zone conference. I'm excited to get to know him and see what he brings to this awesome mission. Things are great! I love my mission and I love all of you! Keep sharing the gospel with everyone you know!! <3

Sister Collett