At the beginning of the week all of our appointments started to fall through. We were trying hard to contact all our investigators and potentials to set up some appointments so we could arrange for members to come with us and we could meet our goals. But alas, to no avail. We, of course, started praying to be inspired as to who we should call. So then Sister Hansen says. This is going to sound crazy but we need to visit John and Sharon. (They're a less active couple.) I said "You're right, that's crazy. Let's go." The reason it's crazy is because they live at the tip top of our area, in the middle of nowhere and it takes a lot of time and miles to get there. We've never met them before and the ward council has never even mentioned them before so why we decided to put them on our map, I don't even know. So the next day we planned them into our schedule. We went but they weren't home. However, their cousin Patti was. She was very distant to us at first and just as we were about to leave I thought I should ask for John's number, which we didn't need because we have their number on the ward directory. She said she'd go find it and let us come inside. It didn't take long for her to warm up to us and we were able to keep talking to her. We ended up inviting her to the dinner the stake was having for the Relief Society Broadcast and she got real excited about that and thought it'd be fun. Then she called Sharon to let her know that we had stopped by. That was all and we didn't think too much of it.
The next night we get a phone call from Sharon. First she asks some details about the RS activity and then she says, "Are you ready to start teaching your new investigator?" She told us that Patti had felt something special when we came by. She really liked us and was impressed with us so they had a 3 hour gospel conversation and Sharon invited Patti to take missionary discussions. And she agreed! Sharon asked us why we decided to visit them and we responded that it was all from a prompting. She told us that she and her husband have been struggling lately and the day we stopped by they offered a prayer asking God to help them get back on the path. Four hours later we showed up. Patti and Sharon both came to the broadcast and all the talks were exactly what they had talked about the night before. Patti said everything she knows about us fits with her beliefs. She's already realized that God has been preparing her to hear this message. She's moving next year and already looked up where the closest church is to that home. She's been wondering what church to affiliate herself with lately and she said she felt she had received her answer that night in President Monson's talk. She talked about how she moved in with her cousins to go back to school-culinary arts-but knew the whole time there was a bigger reason. In her classes they've been working with yeast and when President Monson mentioned a story about homemade bread she knew that was her answer. It was all such a miracle! Isn't it amazing how God is in the details? I love the way he works. This was the answer to John's prayers and Sharon's prayers and Patti's prayers and Sister Hansen's prayers and my prayers. We are so excited to help this couple get back to church and to introduce Patti to the blessing it will be in her life.
This week I was driving and I noticed a college age guy sitting on his porch. I didn't think too much of him but then the car turned itself into the circle across the street. Literally next thing I know the car was parked. So I took it as a sign and told Sister Hansen that we needed to stop and talk to him. He was dressed in all black. He was wearing a dog collar and a bone earring, a wig, high heeled boots, red lipstick, and mascara. As we approached I whispered to Sister Hansen to imagine him in white. We actually had a wonderful lesson with him and he was willing to learn more. As we walked away Sister Hansen said "I didn't see him in white. I saw him in a suit and tie with a black name tag."
The next day we went to visit a former investigator. She wasn't home but we decided to knock the 2 doors on either side of her. Well, as we approached one of these houses we realized it was actually on a different street and weren't gonna knock it. But I thought I heard something and felt like we should go there. No one was home but being at that house, Sister Hansen saw a street that she felt we should go down. Sure enough two houses in we met this awesome guy. He told us if we had knocked 9 months ago, he would have pushed us away because he was an atheist but after he prayed alone in the woods one day, he knew there was a God. So we told him we knew of a similar story of prayer and shared Joseph Smith's experience alone in the woods when he prayed.
It's truly amazing the people we are led to each day and almost always we're guided there one step at a time. We have to show God that we're willing to follow even when we don't understand. Then as soon as we take one step into the darkness the path is illuminated. But only one step at a time. First we have to show our faith and that we trust God's plan for us.
It's also amazing to me how much preparation God makes. Missionaries met someone in that neighborhood 6 years ago that they taught a couple times and wasn't interested. But that was enough to get missionaries back in that neighborhood to meet someone else. It's truly amazing.
The sweet deaf woman that is friends with a member came to the broadcast too. She was a bit overwhelmed but had a very positive experience. There are so many members that know sign language and were willing to help translate and she was so impressed. We've haven't taught her lessons yet but hope to soon.
When we followed up with Blanca after the baptism, she said she liked it and is thinking she should get baptized. Which is great but she definitely has so much more to understand before she could get baptized.
Wonderful Miss Mae had been thinking about a certain person this whole week, who is struggling financially, so she bought her more groceries. Well she's been busy and we haven't been able to meet with her so we just dropped the groceries off at her house. Their door has a broken window in it so instead of leaving the food outside in the sun and exposed to people and animals we slipped the 4 bags through the broken door. Well, we got a phone call from this said person being very upset that we went in her house. We explained that we didn't and apologized she was upset about the groceries. Ah we couldn't believe how ungrateful she was. It made me really sad because the first thing that ran through my head was my mom after she sacrificed for me and I was ungrateful for it and she'd say "This is how you repay me?" So forgive me mom for all those times. Thank you for all the sacrifices you've made in my behalf. This experience made me think about how when God gives us a blessing but not in the way we expected, are we angry or displeased with Him? We shouldn't be. We should be grateful for all the things he gives us even if to us it wasn't ideal.
So fun sidenote. I wore a 4 and 1/2 carat diamond ring this week!! So what if it was only for 5 minutes. It was large and in charge.
Como Siempre,
Hermana Pearson
 |
| Large and In Charge! |
No comments:
Post a Comment