Transfers are this week, which means Sister Howard is 1/2 done with her training! Woo! It has been fun to watch her progression and growth, especially in her confidence and gospel knowledge. She is a really great girl. We get along super well and have a lot of fun together, especially when we tract. We have been doing a lot of tracting lately, but we have actually found some success doing it! We were waiting for Patricia and Miguel to get home yesterday and were tracting around their apartment complex. We met this lady named Marjorie and taught her about the Book of Mormon (she had heard about it and saw that they put the angel moroni on the temple) she said she wanted a Book of Mormon and we set up a return appointment. so that is cool :)
Heavenly Father for some reason has really been testing Sister Howard and I the past week and a half... I think it is because Sister Howard was praying for patience.....I will blame her ;) jk. But goodness, it seemed like the harder we tried, the more our lessons fell through and we were left feeling like idiots, especially the times when we had asked members to come out with us. Its been fun to get more members involved. That is something that our ward is really struggling with. Nobody really has the means or desires it seems to help. But we keep inviting people. Some say yes, but it seems like the same 20% of the ward.. the same 20% that feed us and pick up people for us too. haha. Well, they will be blessed and we will keep trying to involve more people. But ya, lessons kept falling through and we would just get frustrated and discouraged about knowing where to go next. We would pray and pick somewhere... I think maybe we should have picked somewhere and then prayed to know if that was the right place.. I was thinking about that last night as I was praying. Study it out in your mind and then ask if it is correct.. not just.. tell me where to go..So perhaps that is the lesson that I needed to learn this week. To involve Heavenly Father more in every single plan. This is His work after all.
We had such a wonderful miracle this week though.. well several actually.
Patricia and Miguel Reyes are progressing so wonderfully to be baptized on November 15th. We were pretty worried about our lesson this week on the Word of Wisdom. Miguel drinks a lot of coffee. But as we taught the spirit was there. We testified that the church is true, and that Heavenly Father wants us to keep this commandment and will bless us for doing so. He said that he knows this is true. He said that he feels so deeply that God has something planned for him, and that he needs to keep the word of wisdom to do that. He said he would give up Coffee. oh man. Then... to close the lesson, we asked if he would say the prayer. Every other time we have asked he always says no that he isn't ready... well he finally agreed. He said the sweetest prayer. His FIRST prayer out loud EVER. like joseph smith! We stopped by yesterday to see how they are doing. He said he is really excited because he FINALLY got the next two sundays off of work. Huge blessing, huge miracle. :):) I hope that when he comes, he feels the spirit so strong and knows that he needs to be there, and then quits his first job or something works out so that he can be there EVERY sunday!
I love them so much. I have LITERALLY seen them change since I first met them. When we first met them, they were really standoffish...flaky... miguel was really only there to translate for us.. but now, he is taking part in teaching patricia haha. :) He reads the Book of mormon every day and prays. Patricia keeps praying and reading to know if what we teach is true. I love it. Every time I go there, it makes me feel like I have purpose here. Like I have been making good use of my time. Like I could be a missionary forever. :)
We also had a lesson with the BayGBoe Family this week. They are from West Africa. They are progressing to be baptized on November 22. They came to church yesterday, so that was nice. We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ but we taught it very simply because there is somewhat of a language barrier. We taught it as if it were a treasure map... given to us from Jesus Christ. Faith is the starting point... we cant move anywhere on our treasure hunt without faith. then the steps along the way, repentance, baptism, like crossing a river, holy ghost, someone giving you a compass, and enduring to the end, continuing to pray and read and go to church and repent and have faith and take the sacrament.. etc. etc. They loved it. At the end, the 11 year old boy Ator wanted to say the prayer. He said thank you for November 22, I know it will be a really special and happy day for my family. aww so cute :) Both the kids really love primary. We havent got the husband to come to church yet. We will keep workin on it. We have two lessons set up with them for this coming week.
Something Crazy happened this morning though. We got done at the gym and were showering and getting ready and a lady in our ward who we visit weekly called. She was crying and could barely say a word. She said she was having a heart attack and I said "I will be there in two minutes!" Sister Howard and I left the house in our workout clothes and wet hair. We got there and she was in her car. About 2 minutes later the ambulence pulled up. Man it was crazy. The whole drive over there I was praying to remember how to do CPR... I am glad I didn't have to though. I talked to her on the phone a few hours ago and she sounded better. She was headed down to have a ECG or something done. I was seriously running on adrenaline all morning.. you know the fight or flight? It was nuts. Her apartment is FILLED with fast food trash, and so while she is at the hospital, Sister Howard and I are going to go clean it tonight. But gosh, it was so scary because she was tellling us to tell her daughter that she loved her and to call her sister etc. and told us that she loves us.. like she was dying or something. I don't know what I would have done if she died. It was scary. I am glad that she trusts us and loves us enough to be the people she called. I sure love her.
I love the people here. I have made some very treasured friendships. I will be staying in White River 6 more weeks and then I will most likely be transferred.
I love you all so much. Thank you for your fasts and prayers. I felt them, I truly did. They have helped me rededicate myself and be more diligent and more obedient.
I am so grateful for a family who loves and supports me and tells me to forget about myself. I pray for each of you. I know heavenly Father loves you so much.
123 Forever. 4th missionary (which I read that talks almost every day on the treadmill) running at 212 degrees. HOT HOT HOT
Sister Megs
No comments:
Post a Comment