This week was honestly in every sense of the word, a week of miracles.
1. We were working desperately to find a member to take teaching with us and were having very little success. We asked one of our recent converts and she gave a shaky "I'll come if I can make it home on time" as her response. The likelihood of her making it back to her home so we could pick her up was slim, and we were wondering if driving all the way across our area was worth it. We hadn't heard from her yet, and we were approaching the time where if we didn't leave at that moment to go pick her up, we wouldn't be able to make it back to where we were for the lesson on time. But, after feeling like we should, we decided to head off to pick her up. We got to her complex, parked the car, and as we stepped on the doorstep, our phone received a text saying she had just arrived at home a few minutes ago and would be able to come if we were close enough to pick her up. The look on her face when we rang the doorbell seconds after she sent the text...priceless. :)
2. This lesson must have been particularly important to our Heavenly Father because another miracle occurred as we were driving to go and pick up the member. The sky had been dark all day, and everyone was expecting it to rain. We received a text from our investigator saying that if if started raining, he wouldn't be able to make it to the library where we would be meeting at since he didn't have an umbrella...Personally, my companion and I think getting wet for the sake of preparing for baptism is worth it, but anyways... As we headed to pick up the member, I looked in the rear-view mirror and saw that it had begun to rain over the entire half of the city our investigator was on. When I pointed this out to my companion, she turned the music we had on off and started praying. She prayed that the rain would leave. She prayed saying it didn't matter where the rain went, as long as it didn't rain on the path our investigator needed to take. Immediately after she finished her prayer, the rain clouds all but disappeared. I can't even tell you where they went, but they were gone. Completely gone. And so, with great faith, my companion literally rebuked the weather.
3. I know realize that God must really want this investigator to get baptized, because this third miracle is about him as well. We were (yet again) struggling to find a member for our lesson with him. We had called seemingly everyone. We were so desperate to find a solid fellowshipper for him and were having no success. Finally, we felt we should invite a recent convert to come, despite a ten-year age gap. She was able to come, and we at this point were happy that we had found a member, even if we weren't expecting her to be the best fit as a fellowshipper (note: we love this member, we just felt the investigator and she weren't compatible). God truly showed us how "[His] thoughts are not [our] thoughts, neither are [our] ways [His] ways". (Isaiah 55:8) We could not have picked a better fellowshipper if we had tried. Not only did they get along famously, but she proceeded to introduce him to all of her friends and the whole group of them spent the day and evening hanging out and helping him quit smoking by confiscating all of his remaining cigarettes and lighters. When he came to church the next day, he already had made friends with so many of the members because they had all hung out the day before.
4. This same investigator also discovered that a member I was unfamiliar with, is one of his good friends and classmates. And so now he has even more fellowshippers.
5. A less active I have been working with since I arrived here came to church! He came last week too! But since it was Stake Conference and there were so many people, I missed him.
And so, lots and lots and lots of miracles.
Love one very happy sister missionary,Sister Makena Bauss包爱蕾姐妹
1. We were working desperately to find a member to take teaching with us and were having very little success. We asked one of our recent converts and she gave a shaky "I'll come if I can make it home on time" as her response. The likelihood of her making it back to her home so we could pick her up was slim, and we were wondering if driving all the way across our area was worth it. We hadn't heard from her yet, and we were approaching the time where if we didn't leave at that moment to go pick her up, we wouldn't be able to make it back to where we were for the lesson on time. But, after feeling like we should, we decided to head off to pick her up. We got to her complex, parked the car, and as we stepped on the doorstep, our phone received a text saying she had just arrived at home a few minutes ago and would be able to come if we were close enough to pick her up. The look on her face when we rang the doorbell seconds after she sent the text...priceless. :)
2. This lesson must have been particularly important to our Heavenly Father because another miracle occurred as we were driving to go and pick up the member. The sky had been dark all day, and everyone was expecting it to rain. We received a text from our investigator saying that if if started raining, he wouldn't be able to make it to the library where we would be meeting at since he didn't have an umbrella...Personally, my companion and I think getting wet for the sake of preparing for baptism is worth it, but anyways... As we headed to pick up the member, I looked in the rear-view mirror and saw that it had begun to rain over the entire half of the city our investigator was on. When I pointed this out to my companion, she turned the music we had on off and started praying. She prayed that the rain would leave. She prayed saying it didn't matter where the rain went, as long as it didn't rain on the path our investigator needed to take. Immediately after she finished her prayer, the rain clouds all but disappeared. I can't even tell you where they went, but they were gone. Completely gone. And so, with great faith, my companion literally rebuked the weather.
3. I know realize that God must really want this investigator to get baptized, because this third miracle is about him as well. We were (yet again) struggling to find a member for our lesson with him. We had called seemingly everyone. We were so desperate to find a solid fellowshipper for him and were having no success. Finally, we felt we should invite a recent convert to come, despite a ten-year age gap. She was able to come, and we at this point were happy that we had found a member, even if we weren't expecting her to be the best fit as a fellowshipper (note: we love this member, we just felt the investigator and she weren't compatible). God truly showed us how "[His] thoughts are not [our] thoughts, neither are [our] ways [His] ways". (Isaiah 55:8) We could not have picked a better fellowshipper if we had tried. Not only did they get along famously, but she proceeded to introduce him to all of her friends and the whole group of them spent the day and evening hanging out and helping him quit smoking by confiscating all of his remaining cigarettes and lighters. When he came to church the next day, he already had made friends with so many of the members because they had all hung out the day before.
4. This same investigator also discovered that a member I was unfamiliar with, is one of his good friends and classmates. And so now he has even more fellowshippers.
5. A less active I have been working with since I arrived here came to church! He came last week too! But since it was Stake Conference and there were so many people, I missed him.
And so, lots and lots and lots of miracles.
Love one very happy sister missionary,Sister Makena Bauss包爱蕾姐妹