Not going to lie...this week was rough! We had so many people that weren't home, or flamed us [not there for our appt], and had one of our awesome investigators drop us. :( But I would totally do it all over again if we could have these amazing miracles every week!
Guess what, the Rilometos, the Anitaks, and our new investigator Estevan came to church yesterday!!! Yes!!! I love miracles!
I had one of THE most amazing experiences of my whole mission this week. We had a member with us for the evening and had a lesson planned with the Rilometos. As soon as we sat down Amy asks us, "How do you know that Joseph Smith is a prophet?" Well, let us tell you! We testified to her of how we came to know for ourselves, through study and prayer, that Joseph Smith truly is a prophet of God. We explained more about how the Spirit works to answer our questions and our prayers. We invited Amy to pray and ask Heavenly Father right then and there if Joseph Smith was a prophet. She agreed to and so all of us knelt down with her to pray. Her prayer was in Marshallese, and all we caught of it was "Joseph Smith", but from the Spirit that we could feel in that room we knew that it was powerful and heart felt. Once she finished we told everyone that we should just be still for a moment and listen. The spirit was SO STRONG!! We were all praying so hard that she would be able to feel it. A minute late Amy gasps, grabs her heart, and goes, "Do you feel that?!" YES!!!! WE FEEL IT!!! Immediately tears started running down her face. She was so excited and said, "It is jumping around inside of me!" It was amazing to see someone feel and recognize the spirit for the very first time in their life and to have her prayer answered so powerfully. We were all in tears in their little basement. It was truly a miraculous and amazing experience, for all of us. She kept saying, "I will never forget this." We won't either. :)
I had one of THE most amazing experiences of my whole mission this week. We had a member with us for the evening and had a lesson planned with the Rilometos. As soon as we sat down Amy asks us, "How do you know that Joseph Smith is a prophet?" Well, let us tell you! We testified to her of how we came to know for ourselves, through study and prayer, that Joseph Smith truly is a prophet of God. We explained more about how the Spirit works to answer our questions and our prayers. We invited Amy to pray and ask Heavenly Father right then and there if Joseph Smith was a prophet. She agreed to and so all of us knelt down with her to pray. Her prayer was in Marshallese, and all we caught of it was "Joseph Smith", but from the Spirit that we could feel in that room we knew that it was powerful and heart felt. Once she finished we told everyone that we should just be still for a moment and listen. The spirit was SO STRONG!! We were all praying so hard that she would be able to feel it. A minute late Amy gasps, grabs her heart, and goes, "Do you feel that?!" YES!!!! WE FEEL IT!!! Immediately tears started running down her face. She was so excited and said, "It is jumping around inside of me!" It was amazing to see someone feel and recognize the spirit for the very first time in their life and to have her prayer answered so powerfully. We were all in tears in their little basement. It was truly a miraculous and amazing experience, for all of us. She kept saying, "I will never forget this." We won't either. :)
I don't think I have told you about our new investigator, Estevan, yet...but he is AWESOME!!! Also he is so crazy and I love it!! Elder and Sister Joos actually met him at Goodwill a few times and then were able to talk a little about the church and get his information! So we stopped by a couple of weeks ago and introduced him to the Book of Mormon and he was pumped to read it! He told us a lot about his spiritual experiences and more of his background. I would explain more, but some stories are just SO MUCH better in person. You can all look forward to those this summer :). This past Saturday the Joos' had him over for dinner and we were able to teach the Restoration. Once we got through some more of his experiences....we were able to introduce Joseph Smith and that there is a prophet on the Earth still today. [Not a self-proclaimed prophet...] He was so excited! When we had him read Moroni 10:3-5 he just kept nodding his head and going, "Yes! Yes!" We are still trying to help him to understand that the Book of Mormon isn't the Bible and that's why he doesn't know any of these people. He'll get there. :) At the end of the lesson he asks, "So do you Mormons ever meet together or anything?" Why yes! Yes we do! He invited himself to Church!! He said, "Jesus is telling me to check this out. I need to go." He loves Jesus. A lot. :) I honestly wish that I knew how I could describe him better...but just know that he is AWESOME!! And he actually did come! That was hilarious too. So he came in a few minutes late and sat down next to us. Everything was going good! He even grabbed "The Living Christ" and the Relief Society handout from a couple weeks ago that were on the front table when he went to go to the bathroom! Then our Branch President got up to give a talk on our Branch Goals for 2015.... Oh no...First thing was '15 new convert baptisms' and our "tactics" of accomplishing that. Sister Thomas and I were just sinking lower and lower in our seats and praying so hard that somehow the spirit would block that from him. Although I am pretty sure that he doesn't know that he is an "investigator" or what a "convert baptism" is. He had to leave early to go to work and he leans over to confirm our appt for next Saturday and to tell us that he will be there next Sunday for all 3 hours. Phew!! It didn't totally creep him out!! However when he stood up and left before the meeting was over EVERYONE in the congregation thought it was because of the goals. Hahahaha so we get to Gospel Principles class and everyone bombards us with questions, "What happened??" "Did we scare him off?" "Does he think we are all about numbers??" It was pretty funny. But we were afraid of those exact same things too...
Here's a lil' gem for ya from good ole Tad R. Callister:
"Eventually we must do more than tell the stories of the Book of Mormon; we must live them."
Boom! Love it! I am in the middle of Alma right now and just finished the story of Alma and Amulek, Ammon, and the Sons of Mosiah. I love reading about the missionaries in the Book of Mormon so much! [Naturally...] It gives me so much hope and inspiration to do and be better. Yeah times get hard on a mission, but hey, until I am locked up in prison with my companion being beaten and spit on everyday I think I will be just fine. But even if that does happen, we are totally making those prison walls crumble! [How cool would that be?!?! I can't wait to watch the Book of Mormon stories on Celestial Home Video someday...]
Love, hugs, and snugs from snowy St. Marys :)
Sister Amber Olds
Making cookies for those we visit with Sister Tenney :)
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