Monday, February 27, 2017

Just another night in Westfield...

Hello Friends and Family!

Here is the latest letter from Elder Troy this week.  The letter is pretty self-explanatory, but he also wrote me personally and asked that I express his great appreciation for all the cards, letters and emails.  He is overwhelmingly thankful for his ward, family and friends back home.

He said, “I've been getting lots of contact from back home lately. Please let everyone know how much I appreciate them and their writing - even if I don't have time to respond!”

His birthday is on Wednesday and there’s no place he’d rather be than Houston, Texas!

Thanks for your constant love and encouragement of our son.  We love you all!

JD & Terri


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Hey Ya'll!

This week we got to see the ghetto up close and personal and teach some awesome lessons!

So Westfield doesn't really have any dangerous areas, it's really mostly just drugs and unemployment. There's apparently very little gang activity, though there have been a couple of unusual robberies here locally.

On Thursday while we were doing our weekly planning, we got stir-crazy and decided to go to the local park to finish our five-hour planning session. While we were there, the neighborhood descended into complete chaos! There was a police chopper in the air, police cars escorting the school buses, and dozens of police cars hunting down someone on foot.

We never heard what happened, but didn't hear any gunshots that day, so I'm not sure what went down? There's a video attached.

There was also something weird in a parking lot, not sure what was going on but we counted 15 cop cars and got another video (you're welcome, mom!)

This week we had the best lesson with our investigator, "Darren". We taught him about baptisms for the dead and the plan of salvation.

He has had a rough life, and told us that that this lesson was the answer to questions he had been praying about for years, since two of his siblings have passed away in dark circumstances. We testified and the spirit was VERY strong.

We also had a lesson with an investigator family, "Macy and Irene". Macy's adult daughter, a less active member I'll name "Janice" was also there. She left the church a few years ago. Her bishop warned her that if she had yet another child out of wedlock, she would probably be excommunicated. Then her daughter died. Confused and angry with God, she swore off the Church. We testified powerfully of our Heavenly Father's plan for her and her daughter, and the eternal family. We then watched 'The Refiner's Fire' and all of the women were crying, and the father in the family ("Peter") was sitting mouth agape. The spirit was overwhelming and I hope they are now willing to act on the promptings they had.

I love you all and pray for you often. Thank you for your many emails and encouragement.   Know that I'm safe and growing all the time.

Love,

Elder Troy





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