Happy (and stressful) Easter!

Hey Family and Friends,

First off, I want to say thank you for the Easter pkg.  I got it on Saturday night and it came at the perfect time, because I was feeling pretty homesick with Easter coming and everything so it was exactly what I needed so thank you!  It sounds like you got my pkg so thats exciting, I hope everyone enjoyed the candy I picked for them, Emily was the hardest (since she doesn't like good things, aka Reeses) jk but it was hard :) 

So this week has been the best, hardest, most spiritual, stressful, fun, dumb, amazing week yet.  I'll start with Tuesday's miracle that has been stressful, but so amazing.....

So, Tuesday morning we went to see a LA (less-active) member at an apartment complex.  She wasn't home so we decided to tract the apartments by buzzing rooms and saying, "Hi we're missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, would you like to hear a message about Jesus Christ?"  We had done this to 3 rooms with no success, and then we buzzed room 104, said our little speal, and a man said, "Yeah, I'll be right down."  Nanto and I stared in shock at eachother, we didn't think we'd actually get someone to agree, and especially not so soon!  So he comes down, his name is Ty West by the way, lets us in, and we go up to a lobby and talk to him.  He tells us about his day, So he had been reading the bible (yeah crazy right) about Gethsemane and how Jesus asked Heavenly Father to remove this cup from him.  He then realized that's what he needed to do and he started to pray to know how to do it.  Right as he said Amen, we rang his apartment.......Yep, if anyone was doubting, God is there, and he knows what he's doing. We read Alma 7:11-12 (about the atonement) and then had him read 13-15 (about repentance and baptism) and then we asked him what he needed to do.  He said, I need to repent and be baptized NOW!  We said, yeah, you do!  We set up a CT (church tour) for the next day at 12.

Wednesday, 12 comes and we had brought Jeffy (a recent-convert) to be fellowship for him on the CT.......Ty isn't there!!!!  We were really sad, because we knew he wanted to change, and he told us not to flake out.....so we texted him to see where he was.  He apoligized and asked if we could change it to 4, we said of course.  That actually ended up being a blessing in disguise b/c then we were able to get the fellowship we really wanted!  Jamey Housman, who I think I've mentioned before, but if not then I'll just say, he is the best fellowship b/c he was a full on gangster, he dealt and used drugs, was in a gang, and so much more I don't wanna know about.  Anyway, he was able to come on the CT and he was perfect for Ty b/c he's kind of like that, but Jamey refers to him as a wanna-be gangster.  So we went on the tour, Ty felt the spirit a bunch when we were talking about baptism, and he brought up the Law of Chastity and Word of Wisdom.  Apparently Jamey had told him about those when they drove over to the church, which made it a little easier for us to just confirm, yes you have to give that up.  That's when we learned about Danille, Ty's girl that he lived with and had 2 girls with.

Thursday, We met with Ty again and told him he would either need to leave Danille or get married.  He said he would marry her but he didn't know how she felt.  We told him to ask her if she wanted to learn to and if she wanted to get married,  he said we would and we told him if he didn't drink, smoke, deal, etc he would be blessed, and he said he wouldn't.

Friday we got a text from Danille saying that she wasn't gonna marry Ty, but that she wanted to learn too.  So we set up an appointment with her and taught her about the Book of Mormon, and how she's a daughter of God and he loves her.  She told us about how Ty treated her and it was really sad, she told us the night before Ty had gotten upset and went out and drank even though he said he wouldn't and he didn't come home for hours.  It was really sad to hear that, and it made us feel really bad for Danille.  They have a 2 year old and a 10 month old, and she is just having a hard time with everything right now.  We promised her that the gospel would help and she agreed to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it, and she said she would come on a CT. 

Saturday, we took her on a CT with the Bishop as our fellowship.  It went really well, she felt the spirit so strong, and she said she couldn't remember the last time she was so happy.  We taught her how to pray and she said the closing prayer.  The spirit was soo strong. 

Sunday, Danille came to church, Ty didn't b/c there is this member that lives in their complex that is causing lots of problems, and spreading rumors about them to the ward, which is frustrating b/c they're trying to change and its hard when people know your past, and well lets just say we've been very stressed out about what to do about the whole situation.  But Danille came to church with her 10 month old, and she loved it, she said she  was happier then she'd been the day before, it was great.

Well I'm near bout out of time so I love you all, I hope you're all doing well!!!

Love,

Sister Brittany Thomas

PS oh here is the easter story in the words of Beckham Burnside a 7 year old boy......Jesus was in a rock, and then angels came and got him out after 3 days, and he lived happily ever after, THE END!  You've gotta love little kids!!!  Anyway, I love you and pray for you every night! Sorry this was all about Ty and Danille but that was pretty much my week!!