Tender Mercies For EVERYONE
Boy oh boy what a week and
where the heck do I start!? Heavenly Father has
blessed me with more spiritual
experiences out here than I could have ever
possibly imagined! So much so that
I am starting to have to pick and chose
the ones I write about! Crazy eh!
First
off I had another great opportunity to get out of my comfort zone
this week
thanks to Elder Rogers and Elder Dewey (our zone leaders.)
On Wednesday I got a
call from them asking if Sister Waal and I would
instruct the zone on
Friday at our skills and interviews.... WAIT WHAT! You
want ME and
Sister WAAL to get up in front of the zone and instruct
everyone else on how to
ask inspired questions and how to listen.... YA
RIGHT! Unfortunately I
was a little too shocked to think clearly and ended
up saying sure.... So
Sister Waal and I started to prepare for our
instruction. We got a basic
outline of what we wanted to discuss with the
other missionaries and we figured
that what we really wanted to hit home
with everyone was that
->what makes a question inspired is not how wordy
or elegant it is, but
whether or not it
comes from the spirit.<-
In order to hit that point home, we decided to
do an object lesson with all
the missionaries. In the middle of our instruction
we got them to get into
groups to talk about a concern their investigator has.
While they were
talking amongst themselves I stood at the front and recited the
first
vision and bore my testimony in a quiet voice. After 4 min we called them
back
in and asked if anyone had heard what I said. They all said no (now
in order
for the point of this demonstration to hit home with everyone we
NEEDED the
spirit to be strong).
I took a deep breath and I said that I had shared
something very close to
me.... I said, "After I had retired to the place
where I had previously
designed to go..." As I recited the first
vision you could hear a pin drop
in the chapel. The spirit was so strong it was
like I could cut it with a
knife. I even almost started to cry.... some of the
missionaries even
started to cry!
It was an incredible experience.
We told
them that while preparing for lessons is important, ultimately we
need
to listen to the advice God gives us about our investigators because
he knows
them best and in order to do that we need to allow moments of
quiet in our
teaching.
Now on to my dear Jake :) This week we got to share a very tender
moment
with Jake, which I will now tell you about.
So I like what my Dad wrote
to me last week about Jake. He said that Jake
is the type of person who will
test every principle of the gospel to make
sure that it is truth. And he is
very right. Jake will do that- some may
look at Jake’s progression as
slow, but when I see Jake I can see the gospel
changing him and it is
incredible!
Last time we talked with Jake we asked him the next time we met
with him
if he would say one of the prayers (he hadn't offered a prayer yet).
He
smiled awkwardly and said that he thought he was ready for that. So fast
forward
to the next time we talk with him. Our lesson we had with him was
on the gospel
of Jesus Christ focusing in on the role of the Holy Ghost. It
was a really
great discussion and we were able to help Jake see the role of
the Holy Ghost
as a guide, a teacher of truth, and a comforter AS WELL as
talk a little more
about why baptism is important. At the end of the lesson
we all look at Jake-
haha there is an awkward pause and then he says he will
give the prayer. We all
chuckle. Then he offers a simple and heartfelt
prayer. As he prayed I
could feel the spirit touch my heart and prayed with
all my might that Jake
would also feel that. When he said Amen we looked up
and saw tears in
his eyes
.
->for Jake’s sake I will clarify: he did not cry because the tears
never
left his eyes ;)<-
He leaned back in his chair and said
"Wow, what just happened?!" I could not
help but smile from ear
to ear! What an incredible experience for him! We
told him to write down the
feelings that he felt and explained to him that
this is what the Holy Ghost
feels like. This is God's way of showing you
that He is there and that He is
listening to you and loves you :) Jake was
radiating... like seriously
glowing and his smile was so big!
The next day was Sunday and it happened to be
district conference so our
mission president was presiding. He decided to have
a special meeting for
all investigators and recent converts so that he could
talk with them. Both
Jake and Winnie were able to go and it was an incredible
experience for
them! After church I was talking with Jake and he told me how he
hadn't
told his mom that he was investigating the church.... he paused and said
that
he had better tell her soon though because this is getting more
serious.....
->
cue Sister Hall freak out on the inside! I was smiling so big that my
cheeks
hurt!
If this is not enough, Heavenly Father decides to bless Sister Laing and
I
with ANOTHER tender mercy! So it’s about 6:30 pm and we are walking around
outside
talking with people, not having that much success when we get a
text from the
zone leaders challenging us to find a new investigator....
CHALLENGE ACCEPTED :)
Sister
Laing and I say a quick prayer on the streets asking God to help us
to find a
new investigator. We say Amen, look up and lo and behold a Queen’s
student is
walking towards us! We stop him and start talking with him. As
the conversation
progressed we began teaching him about the restoration of
the gospel. Next
thing you know we are saying a closing prayer and have a
return appointment
with him and a new investigator.... this all happened in
about 7 minutes.
Truly
anything is possible with God!
Jessica did not end up getting baptized this
weekend, but that is ok! We
are continuing to work with her and I know that she
will be baptized when
the Lord needs her to be :)
All in all it was a pretty
amazing week over here :) I appreciate all the
emails and letters I get from
you guys and hope all is well!
P.S. Nathan, I almost died laughing
at the cheeto stain! I thought it was way
funny!
Line of the Week:
Sister
Waal: "What did you draw in that guy’s Book of Mormon?"
Me:
"A prayer burger."
Sister Waal: "A prayer
burger?!?!?"
Me: "Ya... I used to call it a prayer sandwiTch,
but then I realized I
didn't know how to spell sandwich so now I call it a
prayer burger."
Scripture of The Week: Helaman 5:30
"And it came to pass
when they heard this voice, and beheld that it was not a voice of thunder,
neither was it a voice of a great tumultuous noice, but behold, it was a still
voice of perfect mildness, as if it had been a whisper, and it did pierce even
to the very soul."
A Haiku for YOU:
lack of
gears
adventures up hill
mission bikes
Sister Hall
Sister Waal got whip lash from the accident and was less than impressed to have to wear a sling |
Just before heading out into the cold and just before our we meet Keagan our new investigator |