letter dated 8-24-09

Dear family and Everyone,
Hello All, I hope you are doing good. This past week has been exciting for my companion and I. We put forth a great effort to prepare ourselves for the messages that we would be sharing that day. We would prepare who would start the lessons, when we would transition and what commitments we would leave. I felt a sense of calmness as we preparing something special for each family or person. I felt like I was putting forth the effort to be ready to teach by the spirit and so we did. We felt great blessing and an abundance of the spirit during our lessons for this week. Truly a blessing. Elder Jones and I strove for having a member present at all of our investigator lessons. We did not always succeed in this but we felt the blessings come when we put forth the extra effort. A few times the members were a definite bonus as they bore their testimonies or answer a specific question that Elder Jones or I could not answer well. This week, we are trying to have a member set to coming to the lessons before the day before. I think that was one of the reasons we did not have a member present at all of them because of a lack of planning on our part. We are currently working on remedying this problem and will to have greater success next week.
This last past week I was going threw the area book looking for old referrals and potential investigators to go visit when I came across some old records of people who had ordered a movie and their was no marking to let us know if they had received it or not. The record was five years old but we wrote down the names and addresses and went and visited them that day. We went to go visit this lady named Laurie. She had ordered a mister Kroger’s Christmas DVD and we did not know if she had received it. We knocked on her front door and she answered. We introduced ourselves and asked her if she still wanted or had preciously received the movies. She told us she has no recollection of ever ordering the movie and on further questioning we discovered that she had already been baptized by those missionaries in 2005. Regrettably, she had become less active in the past years. She informed us that she was wanting to start coming to church again and that she had actually attended church the Sunday before. We got a chance to meet with her later in the week and share a wonderful message. We brought the relief society president with us and enjoyed the feelings that were present as a long lost sister accepted home teachers, visiting teachers, and a calling back into her life. We were even blessed to see her attending relief society the Sunday after. What a blessing to be here and help be a miracle in the life of His children.
My studies are feeling not as top notch as they used to be. I’ve been more then just a little tired as I read from the scriptures. I have found that it is necessary to stand up and do my studies so I don’t fall asleep. I’m going to try and take better notes. I have come to realize that I have a much better experience in my studies when I’m putting forth the effort to record my spiritual promptings. I am doing great Family. I am learning so much from my new companion Elder Jones, he is truly an amazing missionary. We go forward with faith and do our best. This work is truly divine, Onward!!! I love you all family and hope you are doing great! Thanks for the letters and love,
Elder Durfee
Alden, Definitely a manly, riding to the store to buy your own marshmallows for scouts and packing your own food is very impressive, keep up the good work.
Celeste and Casey: IT’S A GIRL!!! Congratulations I’m so excited for you. I’m going to have a little sister, or niece I guess you might say. Wonderful news, have you picked out a name for her yet? What do you think it will be, Kentina? Possible, think about it.
I love you all!!!