I'm so uncreative when it comes to subject titles for emails, so I stole my companion's title. But it's definitely true. So many good things have happened this week...I don't even know where to begin!!! It was a long week, but I've also been able to recognize how quickly the time speeds by on your mission. I've already been out for four months and I'm slowly getting the hang of everything.
Sister Ure and I have focused a lot on prayer this week. We even had a district meeting on Friday and the topic was "praying with faith". It's something I've been trying to do, but it's not as easy as it seems. Prayer isn't just a mindless process; it requires a lot of focus and a ton of work. Prayer has to be coupled with action, just like faith is an action. There are A LOT of things I'm praying for, and I have no idea what the outcome will be. As stated in the Bible Dictionary, the purpose of prayer isn't to change God's mind, but to understand His will and His mind and come to terms with that - to bring our will in accordance with His. It's hard to do sometimes because there are a lot of things I want for my investigators, but everything happens in the Lord's timing. So in my email today, I just want to talk about a few of the experiences that I've had because I have been learning to pray with faith, mostly in regards to finding new investigators. Sister Ure and I have been praying for this for weeks and we haven't been able to see any of our potential investigators or receive any referrals from members. In a roundabout way, those prayers were answered as we were able to add FOUR new investigators in just one week because we were doing our part, working hard, and praying with faith.
Sarah: We had been trying to contact Valerie, a less-active member in our ward, since Christmas. Sister Ure had a lesson with her before I was here and we hadn't seen her since. This was our fourth attempt at coming to see her. Her daughter Sarah opened the door and let us in. As we sat with her, we learned that Valerie had collapsed a few days after Christmas and upon arriving at the hospital, they had found multiple health problems that should have culminated in her death. Sarah told us that her mom was okay and staying at a physical rehabilitation facility in San Leandro. Sarah was staying at the home taking care of her 13-year-old brother, Nicolas, who is also a member. We stayed with them for awhile and ended up learning that even though Sarah's mom and brother had joined the church, and she had the missionary lessons, she had never been baptized. But after her mom was admitted to the hospital, the first thing Sarah did was she brought a Book of Mormon to her mom. And when we were there, she ran back to grab a copy, wanting to read from it to find that comfort. Valerie is going to be okay, but this experience has strengthened Sarah's faith so much. I know that the Spirit prompted us to go see Valerie which led us to Sarah. We have a return appointment with her today so we can teach her everything again and really help her make those steps toward baptism.
Christine: On Saturday, I was on exchanges with Sister Li when my ward mission leader, Brother Brown, called. He had been at the church that morning for a meeting and just as the meeting ended, Christine walked into the building wanting to know the service times. He told us that he talked with her and introduced her to the Relief Society President, the Primary President and a whole bunch of people in the ward. He gave us her address so we went over to visit her that night. She was born in Utah and has a lot of extended family that are LDS but her parents did not raise her with any religion. She has two daughters - Fiona, 6, and Sasha, 9 - and she wants to raise them with that foundation. She came to church yesterday and wasn't quite sure about sacrament meeting - to be honest, it was a weird topic - but she loved Relief Society and her kids loved Primary. Sister Ure and I were able to go over and teach her the Restoration that night. She is so golden and just ready to learn. Before we started, we asked her about her belief in Christ and she said she believed he was a prophet but she wasn't super about the other "supernatural" stuff like his death and resurrection. So as we talked about Christ's life, we also talked about His mission as our Savior. We read Alma 7:11-12 - which has become one of my favorite scriptures ever - and asked her how she felt about it. The Spirit was so strong it brought her to tears as she expressed her gratitude. Here's a woman who wasn't even sure she knew who Jesus Christ really was, yet the Spirit testified through the Book of Mormon that He did what He did for all of us - and for her individually. That's the power of the Book of Mormon, and that's why I love it so much. It truly helps us to understand Jesus Christ's sufferings and death for us, so through that knowledge, we can know what we can do to express our love and gratitude for Him. Christine prayed at the end of the lesson, and it was so sincere and powerful. We're seeing her again on Wednesday, and we hope her daughters and her husband start participating in the lessons as well.
Dan: Sister Ure has this 19-year-old recent convert named Matt - he was just baptized in October but I've never met him. He's stopped coming to church, and doesn't even answer our phone calls anymore. Sister Ure has been discouraged, but we keep stopping by, trying to catch him at home. We usually end up talking to his dad Dan on the doorstep for a few minutes. Dan is Catholic, but in those doorstep chats, he has expressed interest in coming to church and reading the Book of Mormon. He said that he recognized the change in Matt after he was baptized, especially in their relationship since they don't get along very well. After yet another Sunday without Matt, we stopped by again yesterday. His car was in the driveway but no one answered the door - we were standing there for five minutes. Just as we were turning around to leave, Dan got home. He let us into the house and there was Matt, just sitting there. We brushed that off and Sister Ure just started talking to him and teaching him. We didn't have anything prepared, and I didn't know him at all, so she just went with the Spirit. We talked about repentance mostly, but in a very loving way. Matt knows he needs to change and acknowledged that coming to church makes him happier. Dan was out of the room for most of the lesson, but he came in for a bit and Sister Ure taught about how the gospel blesses families. At the end, we all knelt down and prayed together. Matt offered the prayer. And then - we made a return appointment to teach both of them, adding Dan as a new investigator. We know that as Matt starts doing the things he should and as Dan takes the lessons, they can heal their relationship. We're going over there Wednesday :)
Noel: This story might be the craziest miracle of them all! This lady in our ward, Sister Brown, gives us lots of referrals, but most of them are mega random. One time, Sister Ure taught this Russian man named Vlag who didn't even know English! So yeah, these referrals don't always work out. But a few weeks ago, she told us about Karen. When we talked to Karen on the phone, she was super excited to see us and wanted to give us dinner and read the Book of Mormon and all that jazz. It was incredible! She ended up cancelling because she got sick, and then we never heard back from her. We've been meaning to stop by, so we finally did last night. Karen was still feeling sick so we didn't even see her but her daughter Noel let us in. Karen had told us that Noel was a member and she sounded like one! She recognized us, asked us if we were out past our curfew, put on a sweatshirt because "modest is hottest", and was just talking in so much Mormon jargon that we assumed that she was a member like Karen had said. After talking to her for twenty minutes, we figured out that she is NOT a member. In fact, she's never even met with missionaries! Two years ago, she got pregnant and had a baby who she gave up for adoption through some adoption agency in Utah - maybe even LDS family services. It was an open adoption though, so she was able to meet her daughter's new parents and they let her come see her little girl whenever - she's almost two. The family has come here a couple of times as well. And this family - her daughter's adoptive family - have introduced her to the church. She's been to church, reads the Book of Mormon, lives the Word of Wisdom, prays, and everything like that. It's amazing. She knows it's all true and she's so ready. We taught her the Readers' Digest version of the Restoration, and we're going back tonight to teach her more in-depth! She is just so amazing and HILARIOUS.
So there it is: four new investigators we weren't expecting to find, and we found all of them through members in one way or another. Answers to prayer. Prayer really can work those miracles in our lives - we just need to recognize them.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, there are still a few people we're praying for, and we're not sure what the outcome will be. We just have to trust in God and have the faith that it will work out how it's supposed to (Mosiah 4:9).
Jackie: I've talked about Jackie a lot I think. I went on exchanges twice this week and we taught Jackie both times. Sister Ure wasn't there to see how Jackie was. She was doing ok the first lesson, and not so good the second lesson. But I started seeing changes. She started understanding the Book of Mormon, and she was BOUND AND DETERMINED to come to church this Sunday no matter what. I had my hopes high, believing she would finally make it this time. And she didn't. And it broke my heart to hear her voicemail as she cried saying how much she wanted to come to church but her depression was holding her back. Her baptismal date is the 16th of February, and I am so ready for her to make it, to make that step. I can't give up on her - I just want her to be happy, after all the horrible things that have happened in her life.
Gerry: We were supposed to have our awesome lesson with Gerry this week about sacrifice but our lesson had to be shortened and we didn't have time to dive into it. But we did teach him and Raul about agency and about how the choices we make affect our happiness. Raul has a hard time making choices in general, and Gerry is having a hard time completely committing to the gospel. We're praying for Gerry all week and fasting on Thursday because we know he's ready. People have told us not to get our hopes up since Gerry has been investigating for years and years, but we feel prompted by the Spirit that he will act this time. We are having that lesson on Thursday, and I know that this prayer will be answered according to our Heavenly Father's will. I think it's time.
Olga: We weren't able to see Olga this week - she cancelled our lesson. We are still praying that the things we teach will inspire her to act and recognize that she can change her situation so that she can be baptized. We have an awesome lesson set up for her too, and we know that our lesson plans have been guided by the Spirit. There might be a miracle waiting to happen there as well.
Elena/Ariel: We only got to see these girls once last week and we taught them the doctrine of Christ. They know that the Church is true, but their mom is pretty adamant on making sure they explain HOW they know. We are going to focus on the Holy Ghost as we teach them this week and we hope to set a baptism date.
I think that's everything. Like I mentioned earlier, I had the opportunity to work with other missionaries two other days this week, Wednesday (Sister Poon) and Saturday (Sister Li), and it also meant that I got to drive! So that was kind of a nice change. I forgot how much I love to drive.
Anyways, miracles happening here every day. This computer is still acting up so no pictures again. Next week, I'll put them on there FOR SURE.
Thank you all for your continual love and support!!!
Hermana Hunsaker
