COTTAGE MEETING We attended our first Cottage Meeting at the Mission Home this week. Quite a remarkable meeting to say the least. The Missionaries can come, but their "ticket" to get in is to bring with them an investigator. President Peterson invited 3 newly baptized converts to share with the group their conversion stories and testimonies. They were all outstanding, but it was the second sister, a Sister Audrey Sherry, who just grabbed my heart! I sat there quietly listening to her life's story and kept thinking how blessed I am with the childhood and wonderful parents I had. She told us that her parents never loved her and told her so on many occasions, so by the age of 14 she left home. She was living in New York and left for San Francisco and embraced the Hippie Movement. Her mother was bi-polar and often told her she was ugly. I can't even imagine my own darling mother ever hurting my feelings; my mother was always my biggest fan. Anyhow, she had a difficult life all of her life. About 4 years ago she got a call from her father telling her that this mother had alzheimer's and she needed to come to Hawaii to take care of her. She didn't want to since she never had a relationship with her mother, but did so out of obligation. She has been taking care of this mother for about 4 years now, and often when she is with her, her mother tells her that she is ugly and doesn't want her there. One evening as she was leaving the care facility she was outside talking to the Doctor and he sensed that she was struggling and told her that it won't be long now, but to just "hang in there". Sister Sherry screamed at the heavens telling God that she needed help. The doctor didn't know what to do, so he left her standing there . . . again Sister Sherry screamed at the Heavens that she needed help. That evening she went home and the door bell rang. It was 3 Sister missionaries and Sister Sherry called them her Angels. She KNEW that God had heard her cry and so he sent these "angels" to her almost immediately!!!! She started taking the lessons and reading the Book of Mormon and just knew that this was God's Church. There was much more to her story, but I have tried to capture a sense of her struggles and how in desperation she cried out to God and that prayer was answered that very evening. This darling lady (she mentioned that she was 60 years old), now has such a peaceful presence about her and her face just radiates with joy now that she has the Gospel of Jesus Christ in her life that can answer all of her questions. No wonder I just sat there listening as the tears rolled down my face. I felt her struggles that she had to endure in order to find the Gospel, and realized how very blessed I have always been. It was an amazing contrast for me. I loved this dear sister for sharing her soul with us and hope to see her again . . . and again!