thank goodness for the Book of Mormon

This week was full of strange and interesting experiences. So I will give you it chronologically:

Wednesday two preachers came into the Hill Cumorah Visitor center and asked me about Mitt Romney. They were very friendly, indicated that they knew all about our religion and that they had read the Book of Mormon. I talked to them about the Hill Cumorah pageant and the Savior's visit to the Americas. They seemed to have forgotten that part in the Book of Mormon... They asked if he let them come see his hands and side like doubting Thomas, so we read 3 Nephi 11 to them and bore testimony that the savior indeed let one by one come up and feel the prints in his hands. The spirit comes so powerfully when reading the Book of Mormon. They were silent for about a minute and said, 'hm, well I forgot about that part.' I was touched by their faith in the Savior as they expressed their love for the bible and their openness to letting me bear testimony. As they were about to leave they asked "As an official representative for the mormon church, do you consider Mitt Romney a Christian?"
It was one of the moments when I knew that it was directly the Savior speaking by the spirit through me, because my words were not my own and it was very powerful as Sister Fetuli and I said that any member of the Church of Jesus Christ worships and believes that Jesus Christ is our Savior, was resurrected, made it possible for us to be clean from our mistakes and that it is only through Jesus Christ that we are saved. Each day we try to get a little bit better and a little more like him.

On Thursday we talked to a wonderful woman on the street who wanted a book of Mormon and invited us to come sit on her porch. "I am gay," she said. "Do you think I am going to go to hell?" We were very open, and it created a great atmosphere. We taught her that God loved her so much that he made it possible to overcome that weakness through Jesus Christ. We also taught her the plan of salvation and the restoration and the law of chastity. haha. But it was a wonderful lesson. She was so open and honestly wanted to know what was going to happen to her.  After teaching her I have thought a lot about the atonement, and the Book of Mormon. It made me question if I really believed the witness of the holy ghost through the Book of Mormon was strong enough that this good woman would turn to the atonement to change her life. I knew that it was. That actually prepared me for the event that I had yesterday.


As we were walking to our car yesterday we heard a friendly hello and turned around very surprised {because most people in western new york don't offer the first hello} It was a lady our age who said she now lives in the same apartment hall and said, "I'm born again! It's good to see you are a christ follower too." It was neat to hear her experiences of how she came to trust in the savior and to teach others about him. In fact, she was on her way out to talk to whoever she saw about it. We told her we were missionaries too and loved the savior and introduced the Book of Mormon. Sure enough, she completely changed as soon as we mentioned it. Then came the onslaught of anti, etc, etc. We testified, we taught from the scriptures and then we tried to leave as she continued to say we weren't real followers of Jesus and that she was very worried about our souls. The thing that struck me the most was how I felt about her versus how clearly opposite she felt about me. I honestly love this woman and could feel how much heavenly father loves her as well, but while she was telling me that she was just worried for our souls, I could completely feel how much she loathed us. I've never quite felt hatred like that before and it really shook me. It made me so sad for her, and for whatever false information she has been told about us. I suddenly realized as well, that God loves the people of Shortsville, Farmington, Manchester and Canandaigua so much, and how much work we have to do. After we left I prayed again to know that the Book of Mormon was true, since that was the main thing she focused on, and over and over again throughout the day, the spirit taught me again that it was :) The story that kept coming to mind was Jacob 7 when Jacob meets Sherem and Sherem tells him he is only concerned for the welfare of his soul, and that is why he has come to 'correct' him. It was a very interesting experience.

And Transfers came and went and I get to stay with Sister Fetuli in Shortsville! I am excited about this! I really love this area, and Sister Fetuli.   Happy May day!

love,
Sister L

 

p.s. I took a couple on tour at the smith farm that the wife knew Dallas. 'You're Dallas' cousin? He used to feel my leg with his bow in orchestra." haha nice.