The Warmth of then Gospel Can Warm Even the Coldest Heart

Its been another great week in Chesterfield! (Besides the fact that I'm probably the only missionary whose family forgets about them...haha)
We've been really busy this week. Lots of tracting and finding. We haven't found any one yet but we have been able to teach a lot of people.
With the new year the units that we cover all changed times. Last year the two wards met at the beginning and end of the day with the branch in the middle. Like that, we were able to go to both wards and the meetings in the branch. Now, the wards are at 9 and 11 with the branch at 1. So after our morning meetings, we have to split up to make sure that there are missionaries in each ward. I enjoyed being able to go to church twice last year and get to see everyone, but this years schedule is good too and we'll make it work.
We met with MacKenzie last night. I cant say it enough, but they have changed so much. The baptism is just about all planned out and ready to go on the 16th. It has been a long, long, long time coming but worth every minute of it. And on top of that we are going to try to teach one of their friends (They rent three rooms in their house and this friend is one of the renters). He has already sat in on some of the lessons and came to church once (it just happened to be one of the weeks that Elder Payne was sick, so we weren't there). But we're really excited for him.
I almost forgot. On Saturday we went over to an investigators house to do some service. In order to understand what we were doing I'll have to give some background. This lady raised four boys on her own after her husband left. Her youngest one killed him self and another one does heroine. She also has had just about every type of heart surgery just short of a transplant. She's had multiple bypasses, a pig valve put in, and multiple stints. As you can guess she was in the hospital for a couple months at a time. While she was in the hospital, her son that does drugs stole all her money and broke into her house destroying the basement. Now her son is in jail but the basement and everything is a mess. We went over on Sat. thinking that we were just going to replace a few light bulbs. We were wrong. We started cleaning up the basement. It is sad and hard to believe how people can live in such a place and why they would live like that. We took out a few mattresses that were filthy and threw out a bunch of old clothes. Next week we're going over to paint over all the filth that had been written on the walls. What is even harder to understand is that next to all this "filth" there is a shrine to the Lord and the Virgin Mary. I don't understand. We are excited to help her get her life back in order and clean this place up.
Mom-Yes it is freezing out here. the sooner you send out more thermals the better, and maybe some warm socks would be nice. Oh, and maybe another blanket. What's grandmas new address? We are going to do a bunch of much needed cleaning too. Maybe you'd get more pics if I wasn't forgotten...haha. And if your thinking I'm going to ever forgive you of this...maybe, haha.
Dad-Elder Falkner is doing great. Its almost like I'm not even training him. Our teaching pool is getting smaller and smaller but that's alright, we're doing all that we can. Yes, MacKenzie's baptism is in this transfer so I'll get to see it as long as I'm not emergency transferred out, I don't see that happening though. She asked us last night if we would say the prayers and be the witnesses. We are really excited!
Anyways, even in the cold, the warmth of the gospel can warm even the coldest heart.
I love you lots,
Elder Egan