Dearest Friends and Family,

                                            In the course of my 8 months of a missionary I have come to realize that right when you get comfortable, the Lord wants you to stretch again. This week has been such a transition. I had been serving with Elder Fair when Friday night we were about to head into a dinner appointment and we received a call from the assistants to the President and were told that Elder Fair was being "mid-nighted" or transferred immediately to Findlay, Ohio and to have his things ready to go by 8 AM. They then informed me that I would be bringing in an elder who had been sent home and was now eligible to come back some 6 months later. It was interesting to watch Elder Fair as this was his training area and I know he truly loved the people of Canton. He was clearly shocked and emotional as both of us were so excited to serve together, he had truly grown to be one of my best friends in only a matter of 2  and a half weeks. I relived being midnighted from my first area and how much love I felt as I had to leave. It also brought back the feelings I had of Ashtabula in that I had to basically teach an area to a new Elder and "start from scratch" as it were. None the less we were ready by the next morning and drove down to Cleveland to drop off Elder Fair and pick up Elder Frandsen from Monroe,Ut. President told me that he knew I was the right Elder to put with Elder Frandsen and that he expected us to "hit the ground running". It has only been a few days and I love this Elder, I feel all ready the wisdom of the Lord in placing us together. I know he sees this time as a redemption time for the Lord and he has such a great attitude.

 

                 There is a miracle brewing in Canton right now. I have felt the Lord's love so strongly in my heart this whole week. I have never felt so strongly that He is by my side laboring and is pleased with my efforts. We are baptizing a man this coming Sunday the 12th. His name is Brother Ben Duer, his wife is a member and he has been Catholic his whole life. They have a little 6 month old named Everett, such a wonderful family. Bro. Duer asked me on Sunday if I would baptize him, I was shocked as it was that we have only known each other almost three weeks. I told him I would be honored. Equally exciting is the Curits Family. I mentioned how we had tracted into a woman who told us that "she had prayed for God to send her someone to help her find the right church". Her name is Tanya Curtis, she is married to a man named Jeff and they have 5 beautiful children ages 10, 7,6,5,2 and 1. We had a wonderful lesson with her and her husband together on Saturday night and committed them to come to church. You should've seen how great they all looked on Sunday morning. All the boys were in matching pink shirts and ties with there hair perfectly groomed. It was fast and testimony meeting and convert after convert got up and bore testimony of the power of prayer and how they knew that the missionaries were sent to them. Tanya had a smile  on all three hours and bore her testimony in Relief Society of how she was praying for direction and how she knows that God sent us to her. All the women in the ward took to her and several families have now offered to have her in their homes for lessons and dinner. The whole experience is really touching to me and I know the Lord is behind it all the way. The spirit gets so strong anytime I am around this woman, I know this is why the Lord suffered me to come to Canton.

 

                     My friends I am so full of gratitude and love for all of you and the blessing that you are. You may not realize it but your influence and support of me has effected lives in north east Ohio. We are all children of God with a responsibility to live and love one another. I know that God lives as does His Son. Hope you all have a great week!

                                                                 Love, Elder Prince