December 10, 2012 - Clinton

Dear Family:

Hello from Clinton, Iowa!  It has been getting cold here and we here it will be staying this way for the rest of the year.  We have been seeing some snow flakes but nothing is sticking to the ground.  The work here has been going.  We are taking care of two areas since we had to close an area that is next to us.  We went there last week and found someone that the missionaries had been teaching but they lost contact with him.  He still wants to be baptized and is willing to change everything that he needs to.  We also contacted a referral that we had received not to long ago.  She seems like she could become interested and wants us to bring a Bible back with us next time.  She also accepted a Book of Mormon from us.  Now back to the area of Clinton.  Work has been slow.  We have been visiting a excommunicated member and his less active wife and have been trying to get him to come to church.  He finally came yesterday and will be visiting with the Branch President this week to talk about becoming a member again.  Yesterday he began the quit smoking workshop and is still doing good.  He does have some anger issues and will need all the prayers he can get.  With another investigator we have been having a hard time getting in contact with her so we sent a letter to her saying that we are going to stop coming if she does not want us to talk to her again.  She called last night and set up an appointment for Wednesday to meet with us and begin learning again.  We also have been able to find a less active member that has disappeared from the area for a year but has been found by a home teacher.

So as you can see this last week has had its ups and downs with missionary work but it has overall ended great.  This next week should be felt with much promise as we find out if our excommunicated member is ready to learn from us again and if he quits smoking.  We also have found out our goal for this coming year as a mission.  President Jergensen has prayed and feels that the goal of 550 is the Lords inspired goal.  It will be a stretch but with the increase of missionaries that we will be getting this next year in the mission we will be able to do this for the Lord.  This goal has helped the current missionaries with their faith already and I feel that we will be able to do this.  That is with as much praying and as much faith as everyone can give.

The baptismal count so far this year has reached up to 345.  We have 55 more to go in these next three weeks.

I love you all and I pray for you every night before I turn in.

Sincerely;
Elder Spencer Ariotti