Newburgh #4

Hey there Fam!

First off, Dad, way to go on your Scouting night. It sounds like you put in so much hard work and that it was a huge success. You've always been such a good example to me of hard work and shooting for high goals. :) 

Well these week has been really great. Soooo We had both a stake conference and a Zone conference this week. Stake conference on Sat night was all about missionary work. It was so awesome. I think it got our stake pumped up and excited about missionary work. I was so thankful for the talks as they clearly stated how missionaries and members can work together. That was so good to hear because I feel like the prophet has made it clear that member missionary work is what we need to do, but we are sure where to start. So this conference was really great. We are excited to meet with the families and to see what there personal family game plan is for missionary work. And it was cool to be reminded of the challenge we received at conference for ever member of the church to reach out to one person before Christmas. 

But even more exciting was the announcement that was made at Zone Conference. The New York New York North Mission has been approved to be an online proselyting mission as of last week! We are now in the process of cleaning up our facebook and adding friends and missionaries in the NY NY North Area. We are approved to do blogs, use email and we will use LDS.org and Mormon.org to chat and answer questions. We are allowed to use skype and Facetime. All these resources will be used only for the purpose of missionary work. And our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. We are just beginning to use this resources. I have already been on FB but will not post an official post until my profile is in harmony with my purpose as a missionary. This process has taken a few weeks for missionaries has we have to go through old pictures and posts. I know that my FB has been used to post updates about my mission, but I ask that you don't log on anymore and that I be the only one making posts. I will not respond to comments just to chat or to see how people are doing. Wednesday is the day that I can be in contact with family and friends to chat and see how things are going. On every other day of my mission I am only to use these online resources to do missionary work.

We've already seen great miracles from missionaries who have had these priviledges longer than the rest of us. One missionary is the only member in his family. His mother saw his post on FB and told him that she wanted to learn more about what he was teaching. He started having the missionary lessons with his family via skype. The missionaries serving near his family were present for these skype lessons. This missionary had the opportunity to teach his own family. When he goes home for his mission in the next few weeks, he will have the opportunity to come home and to baptize his family members. And this is the fruits of his labors here in the NY NY North Mission! The hastening of the work is here. The Gospel is going to all of the world. Missionary work is being done in a way it has never been done before. And this gospel is going to reach people that it has never been able to reach before. It is an exciting time to be a missionary! Currently we are using the church computers but by Nov 16th, we will all have i-pad and i-phones. Our area book, preach my gospel, pamphlets, scriptures and more will now all be on our i-pads. There will be no ineffective use of time. During the dead hours of the day when no one is home, we will continue to teach through FB and other online resources. 

So that is the exciting news!! Once I am up and on facebook I would ask all of you to comment on the scriptures, quotes, videos and other things that I post. A simple "like" on FB can help further this work so that more and more can hear the message of the restored gospel! Please be understanding that I can not chit-chat or catch up with all of you lovely people back home. :) But please do not hesitate to share your testimony, insights, experiences or to simply give an encouraging or uplifting message by commenting on my posts!Everyone can be a missionary! It has never been so easy or convenient! 

Well real quick here, The weather is getting mighty cold!! somehow 50 degrees feels like 20 degrees... so I am terrified to find out what 20 degrees actually feels like! I am going to have to start bundling up! Sister Wilkes and I are hoping to get to Good Will to do some shopping for some warmer clothes. 

Mom, you asked about the Valentine family. They are still in and out of doctor's appointments. We tried twice to see them this week but with no success. I think they are free right after Halloween. They are still very welcoming and since our last lessons we have come over to check up on them a few times. They even invited us over for Thanksgiving! (As well as 5 other families... we don't know how we're gonna do it) Last time they had dinner on the table when we stopped by. We told them that we could come back in 45 minutes after they were done eating. The mom insisted we could talk for "just ten minutes".... an hour and a half later we finally get out of there!! Hahah she is such a talker! But we love her and we have developed a good relationship with her. From what I've last heard they are still reading the Book of Mormon and praying about it. Keep them in your prayers!! 

Well family, that is all for now. I love you all so much! Thank you for all your support and love :))

Love Sister Emma Lounsbury