I am very sorry. This week's email will be short because of extenuating circumstances.(meaning, the internet wasn't working this morning, so now I'm finally on but we have a teaching appointment in a very short time)

The good news though:

The family we are about to go teach is the Hayes family. They are freakin' sweet. One afternoon, Elder Thomas and I went to try and visit a Less-Active member. They didn't answer their door. But right next door, a family pulled in to their house. So we went and talked to them. The dad is Jared. He's been to church like 3 times in his life and has never been baptized. Lately he's been thinking a lot about a church to go to. The mom, Christina, was raised being forced to go to a Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall which she HATED. She really doesn't like that religion. As an infant she was baptized Baptist. But if she found the right church she would change,she said. The next is JH(that's his actual name). He is Christina's little 13-year-old brother whom they've basically adopted. He's pretty cool. He went camping with the scouts last friday night and LOVED it. The next is ShyAnn, an adorable 11-year-old girl. She loves church and really wants to come to ours. The next is Austin, an 8-year-old. Cute little kid. Loves church too. The last is Lacey. She is 2. Very cute. She's very shy around us. But overall, that family is amazing. They committed to coming tochurch on Sunday which we are EXTREMELY excited for.

Recently, Pres. and Sis. Merkley ate dinner at a Red Lobster in Fayetteville. They talked to their waitress for a long time. They got her name, address, and phone number and gave it to us. We have since started teaching her. Her name is Sharin Raymo. She is single and has a 6-year-old boy named Marcus. We've taught her 3 times. She loves our message and the Book of Mormon so far. She's not too sure about Joseph Smith. She was raised to be very against our church. She has a few other challenges as well, but she wants to be baptized and join the church at some point in sounds like. She came to church yesterday and loved it(except she didn't like how Joseph Smith was the focus of the Relief Society Lesson instead of Jesus). But the Ward pounced and fellow-shipped her like crazy. She may be coming to several activities this week. A Relief Society one, a Primary one, and a Ward Choir one. Cool, eh?

Well hey, I've gotta scoot. Thank you all so much for everything!

Love,
Elder Bracken