I've almost been out for 2 months. Weird. Mostly weird that I feel like I've been here forever. I'm definitely in the swing of things now and feel more confident and comfortable in the work. And it is such good work. Hard, frustrating work, but oh so good.
This week a lot of miracles happened. And I had been PRAYING for a miracle because we were not having luck finding people who were prepared to hear the Gospel. I was praying a LOT for faith because every door we knocked, i really did not even expect for the person to listen to us. Some faith, huh? I would just wait for them to come to the door, and then just wait for them to say "No thanks". I've thrown in a "can I sing a song for you" here and there and it sometimes brings a "thank you" but I was just not feeling very happy about finding people. And then, miracle of miracles. We were weekly planning, a process which is like 3 hours long if your lucky and we had such a strong feeling that we should try to end early so we could go to our area in Santa Monica which is about 15 minutes away before we had to be at the VC, knowing we really didn't have enough time at all but we went anyway to try to see a referral named Monica. We had tried to visit her before and she wasn't home so we were so excited when she opened the door. At first she said "no. I'm good with my religion..." and then, for some crazy reason, she invited us in. The next thing we knew she was telling us that she
had been thinking about the missionaries that very day who had visited her before (a few months ago) and she was also thinking about the Book of Mormon. What are the odds!? She then asked if we could come back next week. We are visiting her on Wedensday. Needless to say, I was elated.
Another miracle: Daniel is getting baptized! Our lesson with him when we committed him to baptism was pretty amazing. At first he did not want to set a date for fear of not being ready and then through some scripture reading, asking him questions, and finding out the real issues, he committed to be baptized. I was so happy. The sad thing is that we won't keep teaching him because he needs to go to the Singles Ward and we don't cover that ward so he will be taught by the Elders who cover that ward. I am so happy for him and he is just a different person than who he was. He got a job, has been sober for a while now and has that special glow about it. So wonderful.
Miracle number three: Yesterday (Sunday) after church,(sister Browning and I spoke. Mom- I used your "God answers knee-mail" quote cause my talk was on prayer. The crowd loved it! :) ) we went to visit a kid who is 9 who just got batpized and is the only member in his family. He wasn't home, so we started to leave the building but I saw this young African American girl sitting down a couple floors above (We were outside). I felt like we should talk to her but we kept walking. Then I just said" Hey we should go talk to her" so we did. She is the mom of a 4 year old and she has to be younger than me. They live there in a government helped building. She was so awesome. We talked about Jesus Christ for a long time and she wants us to come back. Pray for her! What if I wouldn't have followed that prompting? I'm learning how important it is to follow the spirutal promptings that come to us everyday. Sometimes it's just an idea or a feeling, nothing huge, so never underestimate the power of the Spirit!
Well I have some pretty hilarious stories about a place called the Manor where we teach but they might have to wait. The Manor is a place for people who are disabled from war, drugs, alcohol or have serious behavioral disorders like schitzofrenia or bipolar (Ty. You would love it) and it is truly another world when we walk in there. We had a pretty funny experience with Jessica, but it's too long to type. Ask me about it in a year or so.
I think that's all for now. I love being a missionary! SO much. There are days when no one wants to talk to us where I'm like "seriously. 18 months of THIS?!!" but then a miracle happens and I'm like "Ok. I think I can do that." It's nice how that works.
I miss you all very much and I am grateful for the letters! Thank you for your support. I love you!
Sista Brink
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