Sister Smedley and Sister Collins as Nephites
We have been working with a LA for a while now. She hasn't been to church since she was in young womens but wants to find that peace and comfort again. Her husband is Agnostic and her son has Epilepsy so life is kind of rough for her right now. We taught the Plan of Salvation. At the end she said that she was going to come to church on Sunday! For the prayer we had her kneel down with us and we prayed that her son would start to feel better. When we ended the prayer she was crying. We gave her a hug and asked what we just taught her. She said "That Gabriel will one day have a perfect body." We then asked what we can do now to help get us through hard times and she said "Pray, read the scriptures and go to church." The next day we got a text from her asking if we could find someone to come and give her son a blessing. We took the Elders and they gave both her son and her a blessing. On Sunday, she wasn't able to make it because her son wasn't feeling well, but the desire is there.
Then the rest of this week we were able to get a lot of ITLs. We were also able to help some of the members out and develop a closer relationship with them and help them feel the Spirit more. Our goal is to help the members realize that they have a testimony to share with others that can greatly help and change both their lives and the lives of others.
Something that I think is interesting is how much members and other people rely on us as missionaries even though most of the time we are way younger than them. Even if they don't say it, people can tell that we are representatives of Jesus Christ because what person would go up to a normal twenty year-old or even an eighteen year-old and tell them all of their problems and ask questions of their soul with the expectation that this kid would know what to say and how to answer their questions if they didn't know that they were representatives of Christ. Even with my family. In their emails they ask me questions and ask how I would handle it even though they are older than me. It's just crazy how much people rely on us and testifies that we are truly set apart and called to be His missionaries.
Sister Smedley is great!!! She is an amazing missionary and is such a great example to me and everyone around her. She has soooo many great ideas for us to do in this area and we are both ready to get this area going.
Oh so I was studying Romans 8 (Which is a great chapter) I learned a lot about the higher laws and I had the thought: Satan knew the higher laws and because he rebelled and didn't follow them he was cast out so we have the veil cast on our mind so that we still make choices and make mistakes without knowing the higher laws so that we aren't cast out and then comes in the Atonement for us to use. Because if we were sent here to make our own choices and God knew that there were some who wouldn't return but He put that there for those who don't use the Atonement so that they are living in ignorance not knowing Him rather than choosing to rebel against Him. And then I had the thought that that is why some are excommunicated because it's like placing a veil on them again and they are living in ignorance and without the covenants.
We were definitely watched over this week. So we tried to go see our investigator for the third time this week (She wasn't there again). Outside her apartment was this old man fixing his truck so we decided to go talk to him. While we were talking to him two guys in their 20s drove up and walked over to us and started talking to us. One of them was the man's son. We asked if they would be interested to hear our message the one 20 year old said that he was Atheist, the other one said sure so we asked if we could come see him and he said well you can come in a few hours. So a few hours later we returned and as we pulled up we saw him and this other guy drive past us on motorcycles and at the place where we were supposed to meet was a bunch of men. We were walking over to go talk to them and see if they knew the other guy when we both stopped and couldn't move and had a horrible feeling in the pit of our stomachs. We went back to the car, locked the doors and said a quick prayer to see what we should do. After the prayer, we still had that feeling but couldn't decide if it was just us or the Spirit. So we called the Elders to see what to do. Elder Plyler said to go with our feelings but if we feel guilty about that we can drive up and role down the window and see if he really wants to learn and then call them back so they know we are ok. So we decided to do what he said to do. When we drove around the corner we saw a bunch of empty beer cans and a bunch of 20 year old men super drunk and looking at us with nasty eyes. They were telling us to come join them and to get out of the car and asking for our names and numbers. We refused to give them any info and told the guy that if he was really interested that he could come to church tomorrow. We drove away, let the Elders know that we were alright, and then the guy texted us trying to get us to text back and flirt with him. we decided not to text back. I am just soooo grateful that I am able to feel and recognize and be guided by the Spirit. I don't even want to think about what could have happened. Yeah we are hoping that he'll think that we gave him the wrong number and will stop contacting us. We put him in the phone as do not answer.
It's amazing how those who need Christ in their life without realizing it are "attracted" to us because we have the Light of Christ within us and because we are living a consecrated life, our countenances glow brighter. We've had people tell us that we glow and they notice it because it's different to them but we don't notice it as much because we are around people with the Spirit all the time. But we do notice it when other people's lights are dim. You can tell through their eyes.
I am hoping that I get to stay for one more transfer. Not very likely since I will have been here for six months, but a member will be going through the temple in October really wants me there with her. Also, the sister that wrote a song about my testimony wants me to sing it in Sacrament Meeting once she finishes it. There is also a member in the ward that will be having surgery the second week of next transfer and she is hoping I can spend time with her. I love this ward and the people in it. It will be so hard when it is time for me to transfer to another area.
Oh, yeah, and about the skunk I mentioned last week. . . HAHAHA we were walking from our car to our apartment and S. Smedley stopped and said "What is that?" I looked up and there was a skunk right in front of us and we hurried and ran the opposite way to the other door :)
Love You!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So excited to be serving together!!!!
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