Week 3
The church is true!!
So why is it that I have only received one letter form someone in my family. I thought I had 4 siblings and two parents at home....ok I'm really not that worried about it. Especially since mom just told me that she sent off letters finally. So this week has been....well there are no words to properly describe it. Just read. If you don't believe in miracles you might after this.
This week has been incredible! We have had so many miracles! The first one was Lydia. She is one of our investigators who was at church last fast Sunday. We had an appointment with her on Friday and while we were on exchanges she called Sister Arndt and Sister Bennett and said she had to cancel. So they asked if they could go see her that day. She said yes and they went and taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Before she had not wanted to set a baptismal date because she wanted to be 100% positive this was the right thing to do. Later that night when they were doing exchange reviews Sister Arndt asked to see the phone. Lydia had sent them a text saying that she had received her answer and wanted to talk baptism!! We will be setting the date this Thursday when we go teach her again. Needless to say, we are very excited.
Next miracle. We had an incredible lesson with Andy. He is another one of our investigators who keeps all of our commitments but still struggles a little. The past couple of weeks he had a lot of trouble with 1 Nephi 14:10. We had tried to explain it the week earlier but did not do a very good job at it. So this week we brought our ward mission leader and we discussed how chapter 13 was talking about the church in Europe, Christopher Columbus, and the Restoration. There was a huge change in his countenance and toward the end he began to tear up. He is always telling us that the Book of Mormon isn't a part of him like it is for us and that he doesn't know if he has the faith to gain the answer that it is true. I could tell with this lesson something changed and I believe that the Book of Mormon is becoming a part of him. He also would not pray with us but he did this week!! He didn't love the idea but he has never been willing to pray in front of us, until this week he finally did! We also explained faith to him a little bit more and helped him to understand that it isn't having a perfect knowledge but it is hoping for that we don't see. I think that is the part of the lesson where he began to tear up. We told him that just by reading and praying on his own he had shown great faith already, even if he didn't think he had. We committed him to continue reading and without any hesitation he said he would! Andy is incredible!
Alright on to the next. Sister Hegstrom and Sister Arndt had met this boy on a bike, named Ernesto, a couple of weeks before I came and at first he did not believe in God at all and would not really listen to them. He did set up a return appointment and tell the Sisters that they had gotten him thinking again. One of the first weeks I was here we went to the return appointment, which was at the park, and he was not there. We left a sticky note on a bench and left our number for him to contact us. So this week, we got a text from him and he said he wanted to talk to Sister Hegstrom. We didn't know why but we answered by telling him that it was the missionaries and we asked how we could help him. He told us that he wanted to meet with us at the same park. We met him there and the first thing he says is that he wanted to change and that he knew we could help him. He wanted to have better friends and that he wanted to come to church. We had no way to get ahold of him so after the lesson we could only pray that he would come to church. Sunday came and we went to meet our ward mission leader for correlation. We were there at 8:15 and went to go make a copy of our progress records. On the way to the library we heard someone call for us to come into the chapel. There an older gentleman told us that someone had come for us. Sitting in the back was Ernesto! This older man told us that he had forgotten to set his clocks back and thought that he was showing up to church at nine. We know that Heavenly Father sent this man to keep Ernesto company before we were able to meet with him. Ernesto went to two sacrament meetings that day. One with us and one with the third ward sisters. He told us that he was going to come back next week as well! We are so excited for Ernesto! We might be giving him to the assistants so that he can go to the singles ward but we need to continue talking to him about that as well.
Ok this other miracle is my favorite one so far! Sister Arndt and I were knocking in the Del Norte apartments yesterday and we walked past this apartment and onto one of our potential investigators. After he didn't answer Sister Arndt looked at me and said we need to go back. I asked her who we were going to go see and she told me that she had no idea who it was. After we knocked a lady answered the door and told us that she was on the phone with her son. Both Sister Arndt and I thought that she was going to say she was too busy to talk and that we should go away. We quickly told her who we were before she could and she said "Oh! I am on the phone with my son talking about baptism!" He lives in Virginia and had gone to a church of Christ out there and felt really rejected because they wouldn't offer him the sacrament because he wasn't a member. So Sister Arndt has a 20 minute conversation with him and declared the restoration (basically she taught him about the restoration.) Crazy! While Sister Arndt did that I talked to his mom. I talked to her about how we had a prophet here on the earth and that he received direct revelation from Heavenly Father. I told her about how we received our mission calls and we talked about how the church was the same all throughout the world. She was so excited and she told us that she would for sure be at church on Sunday with us. She told us that she felt like this was a new beginning for her and that she needed something for her spirit. I promised her that through the savior and his church she would be able to have all that her spirit needed. We walked out of their apartment so excited. We could not stop smiling and a guy across the street looked at us and said "Wow you guys are happy!" Happy was an understatement. Seeing the Lord work though us is an incredible thing and we were so privileged to have that experience. We are going to continue teaching Her and we are referring her son to missionaries back where he lives.
This week has just been incredible for miracles and there were plenty of little ones as well. These were just the major ones that happened. I know this church is true and I know that my Savior stands at the head of it. There is no way the things that happened this week were coincidence. I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father for letting me come out here and serve him. Sorry this is so long but I had to tell you because I am so excited about it!
Wow. People! How can you not think this is true!? Anyway this week has been a struggle for me. Even with all this amazing stuff happening. Satan has been working on my really hard. Thank goodness for the power of prayer. I would not survive without it. Anyway, I am doing great out here and the work is really progressing! The Lord loves his children! Hope things are going well for all of you guys!
This week has been incredible! We have had so many miracles! The first one was Lydia. She is one of our investigators who was at church last fast Sunday. We had an appointment with her on Friday and while we were on exchanges she called Sister Arndt and Sister Bennett and said she had to cancel. So they asked if they could go see her that day. She said yes and they went and taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Before she had not wanted to set a baptismal date because she wanted to be 100% positive this was the right thing to do. Later that night when they were doing exchange reviews Sister Arndt asked to see the phone. Lydia had sent them a text saying that she had received her answer and wanted to talk baptism!! We will be setting the date this Thursday when we go teach her again. Needless to say, we are very excited.
Next miracle. We had an incredible lesson with Andy. He is another one of our investigators who keeps all of our commitments but still struggles a little. The past couple of weeks he had a lot of trouble with 1 Nephi 14:10. We had tried to explain it the week earlier but did not do a very good job at it. So this week we brought our ward mission leader and we discussed how chapter 13 was talking about the church in Europe, Christopher Columbus, and the Restoration. There was a huge change in his countenance and toward the end he began to tear up. He is always telling us that the Book of Mormon isn't a part of him like it is for us and that he doesn't know if he has the faith to gain the answer that it is true. I could tell with this lesson something changed and I believe that the Book of Mormon is becoming a part of him. He also would not pray with us but he did this week!! He didn't love the idea but he has never been willing to pray in front of us, until this week he finally did! We also explained faith to him a little bit more and helped him to understand that it isn't having a perfect knowledge but it is hoping for that we don't see. I think that is the part of the lesson where he began to tear up. We told him that just by reading and praying on his own he had shown great faith already, even if he didn't think he had. We committed him to continue reading and without any hesitation he said he would! Andy is incredible!
Alright on to the next. Sister Hegstrom and Sister Arndt had met this boy on a bike, named Ernesto, a couple of weeks before I came and at first he did not believe in God at all and would not really listen to them. He did set up a return appointment and tell the Sisters that they had gotten him thinking again. One of the first weeks I was here we went to the return appointment, which was at the park, and he was not there. We left a sticky note on a bench and left our number for him to contact us. So this week, we got a text from him and he said he wanted to talk to Sister Hegstrom. We didn't know why but we answered by telling him that it was the missionaries and we asked how we could help him. He told us that he wanted to meet with us at the same park. We met him there and the first thing he says is that he wanted to change and that he knew we could help him. He wanted to have better friends and that he wanted to come to church. We had no way to get ahold of him so after the lesson we could only pray that he would come to church. Sunday came and we went to meet our ward mission leader for correlation. We were there at 8:15 and went to go make a copy of our progress records. On the way to the library we heard someone call for us to come into the chapel. There an older gentleman told us that someone had come for us. Sitting in the back was Ernesto! This older man told us that he had forgotten to set his clocks back and thought that he was showing up to church at nine. We know that Heavenly Father sent this man to keep Ernesto company before we were able to meet with him. Ernesto went to two sacrament meetings that day. One with us and one with the third ward sisters. He told us that he was going to come back next week as well! We are so excited for Ernesto! We might be giving him to the assistants so that he can go to the singles ward but we need to continue talking to him about that as well.
Ok this other miracle is my favorite one so far! Sister Arndt and I were knocking in the Del Norte apartments yesterday and we walked past this apartment and onto one of our potential investigators. After he didn't answer Sister Arndt looked at me and said we need to go back. I asked her who we were going to go see and she told me that she had no idea who it was. After we knocked a lady answered the door and told us that she was on the phone with her son. Both Sister Arndt and I thought that she was going to say she was too busy to talk and that we should go away. We quickly told her who we were before she could and she said "Oh! I am on the phone with my son talking about baptism!" He lives in Virginia and had gone to a church of Christ out there and felt really rejected because they wouldn't offer him the sacrament because he wasn't a member. So Sister Arndt has a 20 minute conversation with him and declared the restoration (basically she taught him about the restoration.) Crazy! While Sister Arndt did that I talked to his mom. I talked to her about how we had a prophet here on the earth and that he received direct revelation from Heavenly Father. I told her about how we received our mission calls and we talked about how the church was the same all throughout the world. She was so excited and she told us that she would for sure be at church on Sunday with us. She told us that she felt like this was a new beginning for her and that she needed something for her spirit. I promised her that through the savior and his church she would be able to have all that her spirit needed. We walked out of their apartment so excited. We could not stop smiling and a guy across the street looked at us and said "Wow you guys are happy!" Happy was an understatement. Seeing the Lord work though us is an incredible thing and we were so privileged to have that experience. We are going to continue teaching Her and we are referring her son to missionaries back where he lives.
This week has just been incredible for miracles and there were plenty of little ones as well. These were just the major ones that happened. I know this church is true and I know that my Savior stands at the head of it. There is no way the things that happened this week were coincidence. I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father for letting me come out here and serve him. Sorry this is so long but I had to tell you because I am so excited about it!
Wow. People! How can you not think this is true!? Anyway this week has been a struggle for me. Even with all this amazing stuff happening. Satan has been working on my really hard. Thank goodness for the power of prayer. I would not survive without it. Anyway, I am doing great out here and the work is really progressing! The Lord loves his children! Hope things are going well for all of you guys!
Don't forget me!
Love,
Sister Skeeter"
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