Hello!
I hope y'all aren't freezing in the western USofA. It is FREEZING here. Really. (The feet warmers have been life savers)
This week was such a good week. We saw so many miracles this week. It's kind of funny too because I'm pretty sure we see miracles every week, but sometimes we forget to look for them as much. Oh, and the scripture of the week was a good one...it was: Romans 8:28.
So last Monday, we stayed home for the most part. I was pretty tired. A former investigator, Denise called us to tell us she wants us to come by. That never happens. We usually have to call them. So, that was miracle #1. Huzzah!
Tuesday morning we had made plans to go out with Eva (member in the Albertson ward). She is from Denmark and served a mission in England. She called us that morning to tell us that she had been calling all of her neighbors and all of her Mary-Kay clients to see if we could come by and share a christian message with them (miracle #2). Her efforts paid off. We were able to meet with a lady named Shirley. She is Presbyterian. Sister Welch and I actually taught one of her good friends, Doreen who is also a member of the same church. We were able to watch a Mormon message with her by Elder Holland about never giving up and then we read a couple of scriptures from Alma 7 about the Savior and how he knows each of us individually. We were able to give her a Book of Mormon and she said she would read it! (miracle #3) We met with Denise the former investigator right after and had a really good lesson with her. She has had so much opposition in life. It blows my mind how hard the adversary works on people. Every time she meets with missionaries, bizarre and unexpected things happen. The last time she met with the sisters, her family was involved in three car accidents in one week. We were supposed to meet with her on Friday, but due to much opposition happening at home, she wasn't able to meet with us again. I would like to elbow Satan in the throat sometimes. However, she called us to tell us that she still wants us to come by this week. (Hooray!) <--miracle #4
Wednesday was district meeting once again. We had a really good district meeting about relying on the spirit to tell us where to go, what to do, and what to say. We read 3 Nephi 27:13 about doing the will of the Father and then we read 1 Nephi 4: 1-18 about Nephi and how he didn' t really know before hand why he doing what he was doing, but went forward with faith and did what he felt impressed to do. We also talked about overcoming doubts. Elder Crowley had a profound thought. He said that we should take things one at a time and "master the moment." I liked that. We can't expect to be able to overcome and accomplish everything all at once. We have to learn to master one thing at a time. It was a good district meeting. We witnessed yet another miracle that evening. Sister Heath (who is getting ready to go on a mission to Texas) went on exchanges with us. We decided to go by a former couple that Sister Christensen/Taylor told us to go by. It was really dark and we couldn't see the house numbers so we guessed which house it was and knocked on the door. No one answered, but a man came outside across the street. We decided to go over and talk to him. We asked him if he knew a Theresa and Milton. He told us that no one was home across the street, but that we could come in. He introduced us to his wife, Theresa. We found them! They are really good friends with a couple down the street who are members. Theresa likes to watch the BYU channel and they took a trip to Utah and have a GIANT photo book full of their many adventures through Utah. Milton is in a band. He was so excited to let us listen to some excerpts from the demo CD his band just made. Milton is very talented. He plays the keyboard for his band. We had a good lesson with them both and set up a return appointment! (miracle #5)
Thursday we weekly planned. We had an exchange to go out with us..who we forgot to call the night before. I didn't recognize the name at first (everyone has nicknames out here), but when I called, I realized that it was a less active/recent convert who has just started coming back to church. We met with her a couple of times and I guess she decided she wanted to come out with us and teach! (miracle #6) Unfortunately, she was called into work last minute, but it was still a miracle that she has that desire to come out with us. She has come to church 2 Sundays in a row now too. We met with another less active family that evening. They gave a referral! Hooray for referrals! (miracle #7) Referrals are always miracles.
Due to an unexpected trip to the emergency room and 3 sick people in her home, Denise wasn't able to meet with us on Friday. We were able to finally meet with Claire again. She was able to get her passport at last! She was so excited to tell us and was so thankful. I guess she had to wait in line for 8 hours or something. She is 8 1/2 months pregnant and couldn't sit down while she was waiting, but she made it through! (miracle #8) We read a talk from general conference with her, "Choose Eternal Life" and then we told her all the blessings in store for her as she keeps working towards her goal of getting a marriage license and then getting baptized. That evening we were supposed to have a lesson with Olivia and Miguel (part member family). Olivia's parents both ended up in the hospital in critical condition from CO2 poisoning. Soo, that kind of put a damper on our plans. We were unaware of this whilst we were attempting to find out where in the world they were for their lesson and thought that maybe they were in the trailer right behind the one they lived in because they own both of them. We went and knocked on the door. They weren't there, but a very nice girl named Shannon was there. (I guess Olivia and Miguel are renting that trailer now...) It started raining pretty bad (it really is a blessing when the weather is not pleasant...people let us come in!) so she let us come in. She basically has no religious background. She went to church with her mom, but she wasn't sure which denomination it was. We talked about how God loves her and that she is daughter of God. It was a really good lesson. She wants us to come back! (miracle #9)
Saturday we spent some time contacting referrals. We went to the library and talked to less active Tasha. She is going to be coming to church in Kinston this Sunday! Hooray! (miracle #10) That evening we went to see Nathan. Last time we met with Nathan, we invited him to be baptized. He told us that he would need to think and pray about it before he could give us a "for sure" answer. We asked him how that went and he had a really neat miracle. He said that he had prayed and thought about it a lot and that he had a couple of dreams this past week about how he saw himself being baptized and the members welcoming him into the ward ( Whoa. Right?) He said he still wants to make sure this is the right decision, but that he usually receives answers to his questions via dreams. (miracle #11)
Sunday we went to church in Woodington. We taught the gospel principles class this week. It was on the sacrament and why it is important. Good scritpures to read: Matthew 26:26-28; 3 Nephi 18:1-11. Amy came to gospel principles! (miracle #12) I think it was because we bribed her with candy. Or maybe she just loves us. Regardless, we were excited that she came. After church we had a super good lesson with her. We talked about recognizing the spirit and then we watched Elder Holland's talk, "Safety for the Soul". Oh my gracious. That talk is intense. It was really good. We asked her how she felt about the Book of Mormon and the talk. She said she believes it all (miracle #13). She said that what she has read so far in the Book of Mormon she believes. That is huge. Last time we asked her she said she wasn't so sure. So, that is exciting news! She gave us a bunch of girl scout cookies. I love girl scout cookies. Mmmmm... It was a splendid Sunday. VERY cold, but all together, it was a very good day.
I read some good talks this week. The first one was called "Finding Joy in the Journey" by Pres. Monson and the other one was called "Come What May, and Love It" by Elder Wirthlin. It was awesome. My favorite quote from Elder Wirthlin's talk was some advice he gave to his daughter. He said, "The simple secret is this: put your trust in the Lord, do your best, then leave the rest to Him." I know that's true. Thank heavens for continuing revelation. It is such a blessing.
I love you all so very much and I hope y'all have a wonderful week! Thank you for all your love and support. It has been a blessing in my life. I appreciate it very much.
Oh! Sister Matthews and I get to go to the temple this Friday! Yay! One of the recent converts she taught is going through for the first time. We are stoked.
Love you!
Love, Sister J
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