It
has been another miracle filled week. Each day seems like the same
insurmountable challenge that I sometimes feel I don't have enough
energy to conquer but as I witness even the smallest miracle each day, I
have the boost to carry me to another day and to another week.
Sister
Klemm and I had a really rough afternoon of finding one day. After some
language study and tea time to recoup, we both felt we needed to pray
and ask to be able to find a family. As I was saying the prayer I had an
image of a family flash in my mind. Upon closing the prayer I described
to Sister Klemm this family that came to my mind. I had no doubt in my
mind we would find them that evening. We talked to the first people out
of the door and a couple of minutes into the conversation I looked over
to my left and saw the family I had envisioned! I politely ended the
conversation and we ran over to talk to this family. They were from
Poland and are Christians and they have the cutest little family. They
accepted a return appointment on the spot. I am so excited to teach them
:)
One of the
biggest miracles from this week is CiCi. She is the friend of the
Chinese recent converts here. While we were teaching Michael and Amanda,
she came to their flat and sat in at the end of the lesson. I wanted to
invite her to learn more and she was looking at a Book of Mormon that
was by her on the floor so I asked if she has ever heard of it before.
Then Amanda invited CiCi to give the closing prayer! Haha. I taught her
in Chinese how to pray. She said the prayer in the cutest broken
English. It was one of the sweetest and most sincere prayers I have ever
heard in my life. CiCi is very interested in learning more about the
gospel. She is such a blessing! We have been praying to find Chinese to
teach and BOOM, like manna from Heaven. We are teaching her tonight.
Garry is doing
great! We had some very great lessons with him this past week. We saw
him on Saturday and came up with a action plan that would help him give
up smoking by cutting down how much he smokes each week. Garry is afraid
he might fail and that would be discouraging but we bore our
testimonies that through the Atonement he would be able to quit for good
this time. We invited him to get a priesthood blessing the next day. We
taught him the Plan of Salvation lesson that day and it was amazing.
The Spirit guided our lesson and by using the pamphlets, we were able to
keep our teaching simple. We asked Garry if he thought his life has a
purpose and he told us he didn't know. We opened up to the famous Alma
34:32 and explained that everything in his life has a purpose; the
trials, his weaknesses, his triumphs-- they all prepare him to meet God.
He then asked the perfect question: ''How can I prepare to meet
God?'' We were felt prompted to turn to 2 Nephi 31 that talks about the
gospel, repentance, and baptism. It was the perfect transition into
inviting Garry to be baptized. He is now dated for the 27th of
September. He is so excited to having this new start in his life. We
asked Garry how he felt before we ended the lesson. He smiled and told
us how he has had so much more hope in his life since meeting with
missionaries and how he feels peace each time we teach him. It was the
perfect opportunity to help him identify that this was the Spirit. It
was a powerful moment.
Lukman
may not be a member of the church but he is always referring people to
us and saying we should share the Book of Mormon and our message with
them. As a result, we taught Michelle, one of our Nigerian
investigator's wife, and gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon.
Actually, Lukman was the one that taught Michelle practically the whole
Restoration lesson almost perfectly ( he has heard it so many times). I
don't get it. Lukman just needs to get baptized already!
Last
week I talked about a man we met that invited us over to see his family
and was baptized in Nigeria over 20 years ago. About that.. First, we
went to the address we thought he said and a Bulgarian lady lived there.
Then we saw him walking in town and we ran down to talk to him and ask
for his address again. He asked us when we were coming by and we said
Saturday morning. We tried by on Friday morning too because he told us
mornings were always good but no one answered. We go by Saturday morning
and again, no one was home. -_- I am determined to find him and teach
him and his family! One of these days it will all work out haha.
On
a more moment of success note, we set the goal this week to see a
family history miracle. We chose a street to tract one day and we got
yelled at by this old man for knocking on his door. We walked away with
sadness in our hearts for meeting such a cold hearted man but behind the
next door that someone answered was Lauren. She has to be kindest
atheist I have ever met. She is confident that her beliefs will never
change but she admired us going out into the world to share our beliefs.
We told her we were sharing about family history and she became very
interested. She has always wanted to learn more about her grandmother.
She invited us in and we got to know her a bit. She wants us to come
help her with her family history sometime this or next week! Truly after
tribulation comes blessings and miracles.
I
am in just so much love with my area right now. After serving
here for 3 transfers now, things are finally starting to happen. I feel
like the Lord has been blessing me more than I feel like I can handle.
Can
you image the blessings waiting for us in the next life? If we but
suffer for a little season and allow Him to try us in this life that is
only a spec on the spectrum of eternity, all that He has will be
ours. Our storms of life will always pass and as Annie says ''The sun
will come out, tomorrow!''
Love,
Sister Jordan