1/13/14
Well, this week we had something totally amazingly awesome happen! We literally had a small miracle and tender mercy of the Lord given to us!
So, I will tell you about it from the beginning. Well, before Christmas like I told you, the primary for one of the wards put on a singing program at a mall. Well, we were there and trying to contact people. There was one lady walking past with three kids, and I just decided I would try to give her a passalong card about family. Well, she was kinda in a hurry, but she gave me a few minutes, and accepted the card and gave me her phone number. I didn't really think much of it, because that sort of thing happens fairly often. But, what surprised me was that the next morning, she had already texted us and asked us to come visit her, before we could even text her first. That rarely happens. There was only one problem. She lives about an hour away by bus, and said she couldn't yet come to Solo, but said she really wanted us to come visit her. Because we were super busy for those few weeks with Christmas and New Years events and stuff, we didn't have time to go out and visit her yet. But this week we got permission to go out there, and we set up an appointment with her. So, on Thursday we got on the bus and went out there. Now the story gets pretty cool. We went to her house and started talking a little bit. She had already texted us and said that she used to be Christian, but 15 years ago when she got married, she followed her husband and went Islam. But she was never totally happy or satisfied with that decision. So, for the last several weeks or months, she had been wanting to go back to Christian but didn't know how--with her husband, and she didn't know what Christian church to go to or how to join one. But she said that when we met at the mall before Christmas, it was an answer to her prayers--she had found a way to come back to Christianity. She said that that very night after I contacted her, when she got home she asked her husband for permission to go back to Christianity, and he said gave her permission! So she texted us to help guide her. So as we went out there, she was just excited to come back to Christianity. We were excited about that, but didn't know how open she would be to accepting the Restoration or the Book of Mormon. But we felt like we should still share it. So, we gave her the message of the Restoration. After the lesson, we were talking a little bit and we started talking about her desire to come closer to the Savior again, and we told her how the Book of Mormon could help her do that and that she could pray and get an answer to know if it is true or not. She then told us that she already had a fairly good answer--that as we were explaining the Restoration, it made sense. She had been confused as to how to know which church to join--which one is true. But the Restoration seemed to make sense, and she felt like if she found out it was true, she had found her church. Then she said that as we were reciting the First Vision and explaining and reading the Book of Mormon together, she just felt a strong peace and comfort in herself, that it was something good. So we explained to her that that was the Holy Ghost confirming the truth of what we were telling her. Then it got even cooler. I felt prompted to talk about getting closer to the Savior, and that we can do that through baptism, and gave her the baptismal commitment in the very first lesson, which I have never done before. But, she accepted and said she really wants to! So, Ibu X has a baptismal date for the 26th of January! So awesome! And she has 2 kids that are above 8 that she wants to get baptized, too. So we are going to start working with them, too!
Then it got even cooler again! As we were on our way home, Elder W. and I were talking about how cool that all was, and he said that as I gave the baptismal commitment, he had the prompting to give the baptismal commitment, and he said that I said almost exactly what he was prompted to say, which is cool because I gave her the commitment according to my prompting, and it was different than any way we have ever given the baptismal commitment before. So that was super cool to feel and see the Spirit guiding and testifying and working in that lesson, in someone that the Lord had prepared and placed in our path! How grateful I am that we were willing to open our mouths and help answer this woman's prayers, and our own, and build God's kingdom on Earth. Such a cool experience!
So ya, that was by far the highlight of the week! But the rest of the week was awesome! We had zone meeting with President Donald, and that was awesome and we talked a lot about having the faith to find people to teach, which went along perfectly with our experience with Ibu X! And it helped us to be a lot more willing to open our mouths to others and share the gospel with everyone we come in contact with! This work is true and it is amazing and so rewarding!
And it sounds like things at home are going well, which is good! I'm jealous of the big powder day! That sounds awesome! But I definitely can't complain about my week!
Oh, and this week i got the package from Scott and Lisa! Please tell them thank you for me, they are so awesome! I also have a letter written for them and a few other people, and i have re-copied the photos, so I will try to send that all off in the next week or two. Well, I'm glad that you are all doing pretty well! I miss and love you all so much, but I love it here too! Thanks for writing! And have a great week! Talk to you next week! Love You!
Love, Elder Wood
