Quick transfer update:
I
am staying in Wrexham with Sister Klemm! I could not be more happy. I
really feel we are on the verge of great things. It is time for both of
us to get to work and help our investigators progress. With the Lord's
help through much prayer and fasting, I know we can help these
individuals and families progress to baptism. I feel now more than ever a
great surge of energy and power in my day as I start with personal
study that is dedicated to our investigators needs. With their needs
always on my mind I have been able to receive revelation on what they
all need to overcome their concerns and start gaining a personal
testimony of the restored truths of the gospel. I am so grateful to be
serving the Lord.
Garry
is still with out a date for baptism. We have finally taught him all of
the first 3 lessons. Garry worries that the gospel path may be too hard
for him. It saddens me that he no longer has the fire to be baptized as
he did just 2 weeks ago. We are slowly helping him resolve his concerns
through the scriptures and by sharing our personal experiences.
A
sudden realization I had this week was how most of our investigators
already have a church they attend which keeps them from attend church
with us on Sunday. This is a lot different from Chinese work since most
Chinese do not have a religion at all when we meet them so it easier to
teach them about the Sabbath and helping them attend church. These
investigators we have now don't seem to quite get why it is that we
invite them to church with us and expect them to come each Sunday. To a
certain extent, they already live the Sabbath day by going to church. So
what is it that they need from our church than the one they already
attend? I studied this in my personal study the other day and received
inspiration on what we could do to help them. It was clear that we need
to focus the Sabbath Day lesson on the importance of the sacrament and
how it is blessed by the priesthood that has been restored. The Bible
and Book of Mormon both have records of Christ instituting the
sacrament. The record in Book of Mormon where Christ is introducing the
sacrament to the Nephites makes it clear that it needs to be done by the
right authority. Not only do we partake of the sacrament, but it is
also a chance for them to grow in faith and knowledge of the restored
gospel. I can't believe I haven't asked this question to myself earlier!
We will be putting this knowledge into action when we meet with our
investigators this week.
As
a Chester Zone we have been inviting the members to pray about and set a
date by which they would invite their friends to come learn about the
gospel in their homes. I have been surprised by the positive reaction
from the ward. They are all willing to work on this commitment. We
invited the members to fast this Sunday for a name to come to their
minds. This is going to set off so many miracles. I know it!
We actually ran into this lady who knows one of the members of the ward and said she would be interested in learning about the restored gospel. We told the member in the ward and invited her to invite this friend of her to come to her home to meet with the missionaries. It is inspiring to see how the Lord is helping us transition into a work that is lead by the members.
We actually ran into this lady who knows one of the members of the ward and said she would be interested in learning about the restored gospel. We told the member in the ward and invited her to invite this friend of her to come to her home to meet with the missionaries. It is inspiring to see how the Lord is helping us transition into a work that is lead by the members.
We
taught Stanley, Lukman, and Chinedu (our Nigerian investigators) all
together about the Plan of Salvation. It was a review for 2 of them and I
think it went really well. The member that came with us invited them to
church and they all said they could not make it this week :(
Lukman
is heading to Nigeria for his sister's wedding this week. He was only
supposed to be gone for a week but now he is going to be gone for a
month. Oh my lanta! I can't handle this! We have been trying to think of
what we could do to help him while he is away and this morning I had
the idea that we needed to invite Lukman to meet with the missionaries
in Nigeria. This will be great for so many reasons 1) The missionaries
there are probably used to dealing with his type of concerns since they
are familiar with the Nigerian culture 2) Lukman , I am sure, will be
invited to read the Book of Mormon and attend church there, 3) they can
invite him to watch General Conference there since I am pretty sure he
will be away still when it happens, etc, etc. Hopefully he will be
willing for us to pass his info on to the missionaries in Nigeria. His
month trip to Nigeria might actually be what he needs after all.
Some miracles that I am really excited about from this past week:
-We
went to visit this man named Jason that we have been teaching his door
step and haven't seen him for 2 or 3 weeks is considering meeting with
us now!
-Annette, a less
active, allowed us to come see her and her husband who isn't a member.
Neil, the husband, is more on the atheist side and Annette doesn't know
if the church is true or not and they were both so kind to us. We taught
them the Restoration and it went really well. They
both sincerely listened and at the end Annette asked how she could know
that God was telling her that the Book of Mormon is true. They both
seem really willing to give the Book of Mormon and prayer a try.
-Samilda,
one of our Portuguese investigators, has been reading the Book of
Mormon we gave her in Portuguese and said it reads just like the Bible.
It is always a miracle when investigators, especially new ones like
her, take a leap of faith and read the Book of Mormon.
This
past week we taught an Iranian man with no belief in God. We were
blessed to have a couple from the ward join us in teaching him. We came
into the lesson excited to answer his questions about the reason for
existence but 30 minutes into our visit I realized we were not going to
get that far. This man went on and on and on and on with little to no
breaks in his speech. We were all trying to understand what he was
saying and answer the many questions he had but he didn't give us time.
That 30 minutes in I thought ''ok, maybe we should just explain the Book
of Mormon.'' Another 5 minutes went by and I thought ''no no, obviously
that is too much too'' and went to the basics and we taught him about
prayer. We have already invited him to pray but he hasn't yet. That
foundation of faith in God is crucial to understanding our questions in
life.
So
this experience got me thinking how much this relates to our
relationship and experiences with Heavenly Father. How many times do we
go to him with loads of questions in prayer only to end our prayer and
go immediately to the next thing on our agenda and then we get upset
when we don't seem to be getting an answer. Do we give Him time to
answer us or are we like this Iranian man that would not let us teach
him the things he was asking about. Heavenly Father has the answers to
all of our questions just as we had the answers through the lesson we
had planned for this man. He is as anxious to answer our questions as I
was to teach this Iranian man about the Plan of Salvation. Just as we
had to eventually go much simpler in the lesson than we intended, this
is how Heavenly Father chooses to answer our questions-- line upon line,
precept upon precept until the small answers set the foundation for a
much grander answer. It reminds me of a recent Mormon Message:
I
have been able to learn so much about my Heavenly Father through my
experiences with missionary work. I realize now more than ever just how
much we all need Him and His guidance through prayer every day. We may
be out of His presence but prayer is divine communication that connects
child to Father. Prayer needs to be apart of the foundation of our
lives. Have hope that He will hear and answer every single prayer you
utter.
Please pray for these wonderful families and individuals!
Anu, George, Bebe, Binol
Mario, Ruth, Thomas, Samida
Samilda, Leo, Salma, Leonado
Stanley
Garry
Lukman
Chinedu
Love,
Sister Jordan
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