Well. I have some bad news. The Wi-Fi is broken at our
church building so I'm sitting at McDonald's typing up this email...and NONE of
my messages from y’all are loading!! In other words, this little guy will be
the only thing y’all get from me this week. Lame, right? Don't hate me—I'm just
as bummed as y’all are.
I have good news too, though!! This week was jammed packed
with some of my favorite contacts of my whole mission! Erklär mal? Don't mind
if I do.
On Tuesday, we went by on an old investigator hoping to
catch her at home. On the way over, Sister Johnson tapped on a stranger’s car
window (isn't she awesome?) and handed him a card. He turned off his car (was about
to turn onto a busy street—ha-ha, oops) and talked with us for about five
minutes. Probably one of the best-hearted people I've ever met. He said that he
wants to believe in God, but he's just been through so much and sees such
horrible things going on in the world and therefor finds it hard to. He
vocalized his love for nature at one point, though, so we read alma 30:44 with
him, which is Alma's response to Korihors "show me a sign and THEN I'll
believe in God" comment:
“But Alma said unto him: Thou hast had signs enough; will
ye tempt your God? Will ye say, show unto me a sign, when ye have the testimony
of all these thy brethren, and also all the holy prophets? The scriptures are
laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the
earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea,
and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there
is a Supreme Creator.”
The scripture must have really touched him, because he was
pretty stoked when we told him he could keep the book. Not only did he agree to
read it, but he agreed to meet with missionaries and learn more, too!! Sadly,
he doesn't live in our area, but the he's in good hands. The missionaries
serving in his city are great! I have high hopes for him!
One of my other favorite contacts of the week took place on
Saturday night. We had just gotten done having a lesson with a family next door
and had about five minutes before we were supposed to be in for the night, so
we walked down the street towards a guy heading our way. We stopped him and
asked if he was familiar with the church down the street, and he explained that
he wasn't from Neuncamp and had just come to visit a (girl)friend. We asked him
how it went and he was just kind of like "yeahhh, uhhh, not so great"
(that's code for BREAKUP) so we were like "oh my goshhh no!!!"
"We're so sorry!" "That really stinks" and so on and so
forth. He was obviously upset, so we didn't push too hard for a conversation,
just kinda gave him a card then gave him some space. As he was walking away,
however, the spirit prompted us to talk with him more, so we ran inside our
apartment, grabbed a Book of Mormon, an opened package of Oreos and literally
CHASED this poor kid down the street (he's a fast walker, in case you were wondering).
We were still pretty far behind him, so we just started shouting
"ENTSHULDIGUNG" and flailing our limbs as to get his attention.
Mission accomplished. He stopped, turned around and gave us a pretty confused
look. We held out the package of Oreos and were like "THESE ARE FOR YOU.
CHOCOLATE MAKES EVERYTHING BETTER!" He said thanks (that's code for y’all
are freaks) and we all just kinda stood there awkwardly for a second, so we
quickly busted out the handy dandy Book of Mormon and were like "this is
for you, too! It's the word of God. Much better than Oreos!" He was
actually really curious as to what exactly it was, so we explained it briefly
and invited him to meet with and learn more. He said no... but he took the
book! And he had some chocolate to mend his broken heart, so that's good too! (:
They say there's no silver bullet to contacting...but I think that's it!! Chase
people down and give them chocolate. I'll have to use that one more often.
We had some cool lessons this week, too. On Tuesday, we met
with Ben! We've been teaching him for a little while now and have been trying
to help him overcome his issues with baptism—he just hasn't been able to see
why it's necessary! Can't someone just commit to follow God and that be that?
We made him a pretty bold promise at the end of the lesson--told him that if he
reads through the whole book of Mosiah with an open heart and asks God if
baptism is the path he needs to take, he would receive a very clear answer.
Sister Johnson and I began a fast Saturday night with him in
mind and stepped into a room with him yesterday after sacrament meeting to talk
about his feelings...and good news! He received his answer! His heart was
touched and he told us he felt like baptism definitely is the Lord’s will for
each of his children. Bad news: he said now he wants to figure out which church
it is that he should get baptized into!! Moral of the story? Be specific with
your promises and even more specific with your fasts. The Lord will always keep
His side of the deal...so make sure the terms are clear! Hahaha. No really
though, I'm way excited for Ben! There's no doubt he's going to get baptized...just
gotta be patient and wait until he's ready!
Given the current Wi-Fi disaster, I've got some extra time
on my hands... so I'll just leave y’all with one more story—a journal entry
from this past week!
November 5, 2015
In the most recent session of general conference, our
prophet was struggling quite a bit. His voice and body were shaking, and his memory
seemed to be failing him. A little girl at the conference drew a picture while
he was speaking, which depicted him standing at the podium with angels on his
left and his right. Today we went to the grave sight of schwester Link’s son.
It was so special to see the work she put into making that place a beautiful resting
spot for him. Her love was quite obvious, and her heartbreak was clear. She squatted
down in front of it at one point, closed her eyes, bowed her head and prayed.
In that moment, I remembered the promise made and D&C as well as the picture the little
girl had drawn at general conference and said "Heavenly Father! I KNOW
there are angels next to schwester Link right now. I wish I could see
them!" And then, without missing a beat, the voice of the spirit spoke
back to me and said "you're standing right next to her". I looked up
at my companion standing on the right of schwester Link, then took note of my
own position on her left and couldn't stop the tears. I'm so grateful for the
Lord and the opportunities He gives such an imperfect, unprofitable servant
like me to lift and bless others. He doesn't need me—His atonement can mask all
the pains and sorrows the world has ever felt—but He allows me (and
everyone!) to support and uplift others, anyway! I'm so grateful for Jesus
Christ. I'm grateful for the angels he sends to support us in time of need. And
I'm grateful for the privilege He gives me of being one of those angels every
once in a while.
I love y’all lots!
I hope you have a great week (:
Sorry again that this email is all you're getting...I'm
praying the
Wi-Fi will be fixed by next week!
-Sister Terry
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