How am I so lucky?

Oh what a week! We were able to do a lot more proselyting this week, which will be scarce the next few weeks as we get ready for pagaent. {oh, I am so so excited!} Yesterday I met some Hawkins from Rexburg - the woman is dad's patient and their son Brent Hawkins was there, who was friends with Susanna! He says hello and asked how she was doing, which unfortunately I wasn't really sure about.

 

And also I saw the Robertson family! I thought I had missed them coming through from picking Jarom up from his mission, so when I saw them last Friday my mouth just dropped open haha. i was so shocked. That was a fun surprise! Sister McKenna was taking them on tour at the Smith farm because I was on tour already.But that was exciting!

 

 

 

That same day in the evening Sister McKenna and I went to teach a couple, but they were putting their son to bed so they told us to come back next week. On that same street we know a couple {who we both love a little too much} named Ed & Noreen. They are so cute. They are in their seventies and love Mormons. They are friends with the stake president. They think nothing bad or ugly can come out of the Mormon church... haha. But anyway, I suggested we stop by there and see them and when they opened their door their whole house was saturated in propane smell. Sister McKenna asked them why their house smelled like propane and they said, "is that what that is?" It had been like that all day apparently so they had gone outside to work in the yard during the day to get away from it. That evening she said she was feeling sick. We were so thankful that God put us in that situation to get them out of there. They called their gas company and then we waited outside with them until they came and found the leak. Scary.

A typical NY sign

 

This week we taught a lesson to a woman named Liz that Sister McKenna and Doucette found tracting a month ago. We taught her about the plan of salvation, and especially about who God was. She believes in a higher power, but is not sure what it is and has some knowledge of the Bible because she was brought up Lutheran. She is divorced with one son in high school. During the lesson while we were teaching about prayer I told her she could pray to have the questions that concern her answered such as "how can I help Tyler {her son} in school?" When I asked her this she said 'woah! You read my mind' and the experience of Ammon and King Lamoni came to my mind. I am grateful that the spirit knows her perfectly and will help us in teaching. It was powerful, and she prayed at the end, which brought the spirit so strongly. We love her and will continue to work with her.

This week I have also seen many answers to prayer - one being that we were praying to find this man that we had met the previous week. We spent two evenings tracting that neighborhood just so we could find him because he had been interested in a Book of Mormon, but we somehow didn't have one with us when we first met him. He wouldn't tell us where he lived because his wife is opposed to religion - she thinks it comes between families. But on the second night tracting that neighborhood we were driving away and saw him! We were so excited! We stopped the car, and jumped out! I think it scared him a little bit actually. He could not understand why we were so excited to see him. He would not take the Book of Mormon because he said he had been reading it online from the Mormon.org card we gave him, but I am grateful that despite our mistakes {namely, not having a Book of Mormon with us that night} God still answered our prayers. Also, it was quite the awkward situation because he told us his name was Chak {he is Russian} so we called it and ran over to him {and we looked way too excited to see him whereas he looked not as thrilled to see us ahha} and it turns out Chak is his dog's name. His name is Olyk. haha nice.

This week I have also been able to take a few people of different faiths on tour. Yesterday at the Peter Whitmer Farm I took a man and his godmother on tour. They were wonderful people, and so respectful of what I was saying. They asked important questions like "Are women not able to hold the priesthood?" and they loved the answer of the connection that woman have motherhood and men, as protectors use the priesthood to bless the lives of others. When talking about the Bible I told them we believed in the Bible when it was translated correctly and the woman said, "yes, I can see that. With so many different translations, things must have been lost out of it." and the man said, "like that game called telephone." I think my mouth dropped open. They also asked if the Seventy were the same as they were at the time of Christ. In the upstairs of the Whitmer Cabin I was able to bear testimony that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that there is a prophet today, that is led by Jesus Christ in organizing the church just as it was at the time of Christ. The spirit was beautiful. The woman even said, there is nothing better than feeling the Holy Ghost. They did not accept my invitation to learn more, but important seeds were planted. I am incredibly grateful that the spirit could be so strong and that God blessed me with words to say and teach these people the first lesson..

 

It's been great week. Hope you are all feeling the same way. And I hope Susan's surgery went well! I'll be praying for her.

Dad Happy Father's day. I love you. You should look forward to the really great card coming your way.... hehehe.

Love,

Sister A