(Sorry to everyone else, to start with a personal note, but I want to make sure that Megan reads it. :)
We have been witnessing miracles in Jasper. In fact, there are too many miracles to write them all. Billy continues to progress. On a sad note, though, Kenya is no longer interested in progressing, and it's hard with her because I'm not sure that she ever gained a personal witness. She is very closed about her thoughts/feelings. I pray that there will come a time (hopefully soon) where she really takes everything to heart and in which she can be baptized.
When we went to visit a recent convert in the branch named Jonathan (who joined the church in Colorado just under 1 yr. ago) and when we got out of the car we started talking to a guy (named John) who was walking his dogs. Soon the conversation progressed and we ended up meeting his wife and teaching both of them. John and Andie (her real name is Andrea) are expecting their first child together, although she has 3 other children and are really excited to learn more. Even though we met them on Thursday, we got to teach them again on Saturday, they came to church for all three meetings on Sunday (and really enjoyed it) and then a member invited them over to eat after church. We were already planning on eating with Bro. and Sis. Knight and Sis. Knight said that Billy Townsend could come too. So, we got to have a wonderful lesson with the Knights, Billy, and John and Andie.
THEN, John and Andie invited us over for dinner on Monday and they also invited another couple with whom they are friends—Jaime and Gail. John and Andie wanted us to talk with/teach their friends what we had taught them. We got to teach all four of them the First Vision for the first time and the Spirit confirmed that it truly happened—especially to John and to Gail. (We had already taught John and Andie the beginning of Lesson 1 but hadn't had time to teach the ending of it, so we taught a complete first lesson to all of them.) All of them have been having a Bible study with another guy named Jody who has been teaching them that some of the doctrines commonly taught in the Baptists churches here are not Biblical (like the Rapture). He has studied Greek and Hebrew and they told us that he teaches them from the "first" edition of the Bible. Now all four of them really want us to meet him and I can't wait! All of them are young (mid- to late-20s) and it seems that God has been preparing them to receive the fullness of His gospel by first recognizing false doctrines. Gail and Jaime lives just outside of our boundaries, so I guess the other sisters will teach them. John and Andie are really excited to continue to learn, to keep coming to church, and Andie wants us to teach her 8 yr. old daughter. Wow.
We also got to teach some of our neighbors—James (70s) and Eleanor (60s) Allen—a warm, generous black couple. An extremely awkward situation (in which they were trying to "sell" us on the nutritional supplements company for which they are distributors) was changed into a wonderful lesson on the restoration of the gospel. Sis. Meddow ended up teaching Eleanor and I taught James separately. Sometimes the Spirit directs that. James was eager to learn more and asked me to write all of the scriptural references (including those from the Bk. Of Mormon) that I had used in the front of his Bible and write my name, too. Eleanor, I guess, had many questions. I want to teach them!
Shanna Flowers, a woman (25 yrs old) that we met when Sis. Parker and I first came, is really progressing now. She is eager to learn more and her initial skepticism about "Mormons" is wearing off. We have had a couple of wonderful lessons with her this past week.
We also got to teach another amazing woman named Donna Johnson. A member of the branch (Bro. Bivens) works with her husband and has shared much with him. Bro. Bivens told us to go contact him when Sis. Parker and I first came but Bro. Bivens didn't want us to use his name—he wanted us to tract into him. Well, that made for an uncomfortable situation and then the man did not show any interest. Recently, Bro. Bivens told us that he found out that this co-worker's wife is very interested in family history work and has been begging her husband to take her to SLC. He told us to go back sometime during the day (when his co-worker would be at work) and talk to his wife about family history. We were a bit leery about it, just because we didn't want them to think that we were trying to push religion on them. Heavenly Father really guided us, though, and not only did Donna let us in, but she had some amazing questions about the spirit world, the necessity of baptism, and the plan of salvation in general. We got to teach her a second time and Heavenly Father spoke through us. It was incredible.
Life is sweet.
All my love,
Sister Mitchell
No comments:
Post a Comment