We Have Been Saved For These Latter Days

First things first-- I have some news I am really excited about! Jewel, the man from Bangladesh I met on the train back in May or June is getting baptized this month! We taught him here a couple of times, he came to church 3 weeks in a row, and then he moved to Manchester last month. We referred him to the Elders and now he is getting baptized on the 16th of this month. This joy I I have is summed up in a scripture I read this morning in the New Testament:
'' I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave‍ the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward‍ according to his own labour. For we are labourers‍ together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are‍ God’s building.'' ( 1 Cor 3: 7-9)
We owe all of our success to the Lord. He is the true converter. With and eye single to the glory of the Lord, the sower and the reaper can share in the joy of the harvest :)

As always, we have seen many miracles this week. Sister Klemm and I have a lot of hope for the people we meet with. It will be hard to share the depths of all the amazing experiences that happened this week.

Right before transfers, Sister Chu and I were stopped by these children between the ages of 7 and 10 that were raising money for charity. They asked us if we would like to watch them ''perform'' the dance routine  they came up with to raise money (so cute!). They asked us what we were doing and we explained we were missionaries. A little girl named Nicole told us her family was into ''that stuff'' and gave us her address so we could go visit her family. The other children wanted us to come see their families as well and they too gave us their address. Such angels!

Sister Klemm and I went back a couple of days later and visited Nicole's house and met her granddad, Jason. He lost his step daughter when she was only 29 and has been struggling to know why God would so that to such an innocent life, if He even existed. We were able to teach about the Plan of Salvation and we felt impressed to him that his step daughter had led us to him to say she was ok, was learning about this gospel, and wanted him to have the same peace and happiness. We left him with a Plan of Salvation pamphlet.

Now fast forward to Sunday night. We went back to follow up on the pamphlet. Outside again was Nicole and her friends. I asked Nicole if she had read or looked at the pamphlet we left behind and with the biggest smile on her family she nodded her head yes and told me she had twice. I asked her how she felt as she looked at it and she said ''good''. I believe children like her are very close to God. We went to see Jason again. He hadn't read the pamphlet.. We had another great conversation with him though and this time we left behind a Book of Mormon. We left him with a promise that if he read every day he would receive revelation on how to help his family situation. I know the Lord will fulfill this promise if Jason does his part.

One of our new investigators is Stanley. He is a friend of some of our other investigators. We met him one day when we were over to teach Lukman and he joined us and the lesson quickly became geared towards him when he brought up his questions. He is visiting from London and will only be here for another month but it is such a privilege to teach him. Not to make a generalization, but he, like most Africans, is very well versed in the Bible. He has a sincere desire to learn the truth and asks A TON of questions. When he first met with us I could sense he was not ready to accept the Book of Mormon so we made a compromise with him that we would use the Bible to teach the Restoration and then we would transition into the Book of Mormon and him reading it after we were able to adequately explain its purpose. The first official lesson with him got a little out of our control when he dominated the lesson a little too much and he brought up some concerns he had about prophets and the priesthood. We knew we would need a fellowshipper to help us teach him and control the teaching environment. That fellowshipper was Sister Reynolds, a member in the ward that is originally from Zimbabwe, a recent convert, and served a mission in South Africa. I was so grateful she was available to come with us. She is a powerful teacher. What we had tried to explain the other day that didn't make sense to Stanely, she had easily expounded upon in just 5 minutes and Stanley understood. The Spirit was strong and we were able to commit Stanely to start reading and praying about the Book of Mormon and for him to come to church, Sister Reynolds offering to give him a lift.

Stanley came to church on Sunday and it was just such a wonderful experience for him. It was fast and testimony meeting and the members of the ward got up and bore some of the most powerful testimonies I have heard from them since I have been in Wrexham. Sister Reynolds even got up to bear hers.  Stanley was able to see that we (members of the church) do read and teach from the Bible. He was also able to observe just how family centered and child friendly church was, which he really liked.

Two young men just left from the Wrexham ward to go on missions and as a result, the members have caught a glimpse of the vision of the work. They have a fire to share the gospel. It is so important we maintain and fuel this desire within each of them. This past fast and testimony made me realize just how great of an impact I have been having on the ward by bringing them out to teach with us or going to their homes to teach their families. I love the members of the Wrexham ward!

I have received a witness through the Spirit of why I Sister Klemm and I are serving together at this time. During weekly planning we came up with a transfer vision. We both have a desire to find the sincere and pure in heart that will progress to being baptized. There is so much power with us as we teach and testify to everyone put in our path. I admire how sincere and genuine Sister Klemm  as she teaches everyone, I mean everyone, about this glad message of the Restoration. This is the first time on my mission that I have been privileged to serve with someone who came out on a mission the same time as me. I am so grateful Sister Klemm and I can relate to how we feel about our missions having the same amount of time left on our missions. This has been a great strength to our companionship

I received revelation during church on Sunday and I would like to share with all of you the insight I gained.
I have always wondered what it means that Heavenly Father has saved His finest and most valiant for these last days. Something about it made it seem that He favoured some of His children above the rest. During the Relief Society lesson on how we are daughters of God, however, my mind was enlightened and expanded by the Spirit. I scrambled to write down the impression before it left me:
Heavenly Father saved His most valiant children for these last days because He knows we will stand up and fight for His kingdom even when it is hard to. If we are privileged to be born or raised in a family that has the gospel, He knows and trusts that we will go out and share it with others who are not as privileged. The same thing goes for those that will find the gospel later in life and convert to His restored church.

I know Heavenly Father loves all of His children equally as much and unconditionally. What a comfort it is to know that He trusts us to be here on earth at a time like this to bear such a great responsibility.

Love,

Sister Jordan