A letter from the mission field!

We had a great week in Sheridan. Two of our investigators, Jacob and Robin, were out of town this week, so we were able to focus on less active members this week. Our mission president has asked that we reteach the missionary lessons to anyone we meet with, especially recent converts and less active members, so we have been working on that. It's been really interesting to teach the Restoration lesson to 3 different people in one day, then do the same thing the next day. We have been teaching quite a bit these past couple days.

Our P day was switched to today because holidays are proselyting days, we went with the 2nd Ward elders to help someone in Story, a small town in their area. We built a fence and put up wire around their garden and chicken pen so that deer and rabbits can't get in and eat all the plants. There was a foster child staying with the members, so after they fed us lunch, all 4 of us taught the Restoration and gave them a Restoration DVD to watch. Elizabeth, the foster girl, said she was willing and interested in reading the Book of Mormon. We probably won't teach her again, but 2nd ward will let us know how she is progressing.

I didn't do much to celbrate my birthday, but I went to church, and that was fun. I told Becca this, but there is a member in the singles ward here that has my same birthday. I'm only a couple hours older than he is. We didn't have a dinner appointment because we were going to have a birthday party with Jacob and Erin Campbell, but they are out of town. I did have Spaghetti Os to celebrate though, so that was fun. We don't really have to cook much here, we get fed by members almost every night. We just have to worry about breakfast and lunch mostly, so we have soup and pasta and bread and all the good stuff. We get lots of leftovers from dinner appointments as well, so that's nice to have the next day. 

As for investigators, we haven't had much change. William moved back to Colorado, so we won't teach him anymore. He is really close to baptism, so hopefully we'll hear from the Colorado missionaries about how that goes. We're now officially teaching Jacob's sister Tori, and she really is prepared. She has been in quite a few of the lessons we taught Jacob, and she asked them for a Book of Mormon. She hasn't had much time to read it because she works a lot, but she has that desire. Hopefully she'll get in to it soon. We just had transfers, and some big changes happened in Sheridan. We had two districts with only 6 missionaries each, but now they are combined. One set of sisters left the area, but the other stayed. We now have two district leaders, who will tag team the district meetings and duties. Our two district leaders have been out for a year, and they were companions in the MTC, so that's pretty cool. We'll see how it all runs on Friday when we have our first combined district meeting.

We have been helping out a lot at the local food bank. We help them unload their trucks every Wednesdayand stock their supply. Last Saturday they had a food drive, and we went to help. They have a food trailer where they gave out hamburgers and hot dogs, sodas and chips and cookies. We were there from 10 to 2. I was in charge of the grill, and I made quite a few burgers and dogs. We were just in an Albertson's parking lot, and people told us they could smell the food we were grilling inside the store. We didn't charge money, people could donate to the food bank if they wanted to.

That's basically it for this week. It's been great, and my testimony of this Gospel has grown immensely. Teaching really gives you a greater knowledge. I am so grateful for your prayers and letters, and I appreciate the support from all of you.

Love you!

Elder Ehlert