A week of Miracles :)
Date: October 31, 2012
Area: Long Island
Companion - Sister Lewis
Well this week was nothing short of a week full of miracles. Monday we went bowling as a District...lets just say I may need to warm up my bowling skills :) ha the last time that I went bowling it was with my EFY kidos at BYU. Man I miss you guys! Anywho that was super fun!
Tuesday we had the opportunity to do a service project. we were able to go and pick up peoples leaves off their lawn. It is amazing to me how much fun service can be. Just like you said Dad, " If you are ever feeling bad about yourself, then go and serve someone and I guarantee that you will feel better." Its so true! Service is the coolest thing. and it gets even cooler when you think about what King Benjamin says when he says in Mosiah 2:17
17 And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn awisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the bservice of your cfellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."
I think that it is so neat, to think that when we are serving others we are ultimately serving God. Thats why missioarys are so happy! Because they are serving god. There have been SO many people out here that say, "Now if youre from Arizona what in the world are you doing out here? ha Well I love the Lord, that is what it comes down to. I love the lord, and so I want to serve him. It all comes down to Obedience. At times children when they first begin to learn about obedience, they first obey their parents, maybe for fear of punishment. However I think that one of a parents dreams is to someday have their child obey them because they love them. If Love was our motive for everything, I think that this world would be a better place altogether. Love is so important. It needs to be our motive. Love as missionary's is something that is key. Just like Elder Holland says, that if we teach with love, we need not wonder what to say. If our investigators see that we truly do have a love for them and are only interested in their benefit and interested in making THEM happy then they will be able to see that change and want to keep commitments and progress.
So about two weeks ago there was this lady from Puerto Rico came to visit the church, because she had found it in Puerto Rico and became a member. So while she was visiting her friend she decided to bring her friend Ana to Church. Anyways she had wanted to take us to lunch so we met with Ana and Julia at Panera Bread. (which was delicious) Anyways we were able to talk to her and clear up some of her misunderstandings about the church. She said that we were easy to listen to. It was really neat to see how she changed throughout the time we were talking. At first she was really stand offish and wanted NOTHING to do with us as far as missionary work went. However by the end of the lunch we had, Ana ended up inviting us over for Dinner to eat at her house :) Its amazing to see that when the spirit is there, it can testify of truth and soften someones heart.
So about two weeks ago we were knocking doors and we were trying to look up a member of the church who was less active, who is the only member in her family. When her son Will answered. ha the Minute he saw us he said, " Aww you are the church people huh? Don't try to make me go to church. haha we told him that, that was not why we were here. lol but that we had a message about Christ. We told him that we were missionarys and that we were here for a short time period of a year and a half to invite people to come closer to Christ. He was about to let us into the door as he started to open the door and then quickly closed it. Ha lets just say that he was not going to let us in for a second. Well brightside....This week we were in his area again so we decided to go and see if his we could meet with his mom. His mom quickly let us in and was excited to see us.As soon as Will her son saw us he quickly went and hid in the back room. We then began talking with the mom and she explained to us that she had not been to church in a while but would come if someone invited her. As were talking with her Will snuck in haha and so we invited him to sit down. His mom was like yeah you need to talk to him about God :) We were able to teach the first lesson and it was really neat to see how his heart changed and how he was able to soften his heart and listen to the message that we had instead of criticizing :) He was really interested and had a lot of questions.
Alright I know that this is what you all have been waiting for! The Miracle of MIracles! SO.... one day Hermana Lewis and I were walking. And quite frankly we were lost. So..Hermana wanted to take a picture by this Brentwood sign and so we did. Then this little cute guy named Juan from El Salvador walked up to us and asked us if we wanted a picture together. So we said sure! So he gladly took our picture. We both noticed that he had a fortaleza de juventud pamplet "for the strength of youth" pamphlet in his hands. So we immediately asked him if he was a member and he was. I guess he just had not been to church in a long time.
Milagro 2. So we have been struggling to find members that are available to go out and teach with us during the day. So I was praying that we would have a member with us the next day. I knew that someone how the lord would provide, but I was not sure exactly how. So that next morning after going through calling about everyone on our list we were about to give up. Then all of a sudden the thought came to us to ask Juan. So we called Juan and he said Sure I would love to!
Milagro 3. So later that day we were able to teach an AMAZING lesson with Juan and this family that we have been teaching and the spirit was so strong and they were all very attentive and wanting to know more. ok so here comes the good part. After our appointment we were walking with Juan - talking to him trying to get to know him. And he told us that he has not been going to church, but that he was reading out of the Book of Mormon and praying. He knew that he needed to go back to church, he was praying that he would some how find/come in contact with the missionarys again so that they could invite him to go back to church. He then went walking that day and he ran into us lost Hermanas :) He said that he knew that God would answer his prayer and he did.
Pretty Much Juan was our miracle this week! He has helped us so much. He even called us to offer our investigators a ride to church, and then wanted to go teaching with us later that evening. So we called him and told him that we did not have any set up appointments but that we were going to go and look up people to teach. He said no problem. So I knew that we were going to get into a door I just had that faith and said that I was going to do everything that I could. We met with Juan at this one house and we knocked on the door. This sweet guy answered and I asked if we could come in for a minute. We then were able to teach a powerful lesson with this man and his sweet wife. side note - another miracle, we did not have any more book of Mormons because we had given them all out last week. And so at the end of the lesson Juan whipped out a Book of Mormon to give them! A Miracle?? I think so :)
We all have miracles that happen to us everyday. We just have to take the time to look for them. I promise you that if you count your many blessings you can and will find those little milagros ( miracles) in you life! Try it. I dare you :) Its amazing what miracles you can find if you just take the time to look for it.
Moroni proclaimed that Jesus Christ did many mighty miracles, that many mighty miracles were wrought by the hands of the Apostles, and that a God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever must be a God of miracles today (see Morm. 9:18; Morm. 9:9).
I know that this Church is True. I know that God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow! I know that we can find out for ourselves that this church is true, if we would just take the time to read and meditate out of the Book of Mormon and pray about it. If you have not tried it, Try it :) You will see so many blessings!
I love you Family!
Have a Happy Halloween!!!
Love,
Hermana Gray
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