Una Semana de Milagros!
Hola Todos!
I think I might
have titled my last email the same way, but it's just so true!! We see
so many miracles here! This week's letter will be a little different in
that I'm not going to do day by day. I'll try to pick that up again next
week, but I don't have time this week.
We had 4 investigators at church this week!!!!!!! It
truly was a miracle because the four who came weren't one's we'd counted
on for church. We had invited two of our investigators (little girls
named Ashley and Penelope) to come to a church tour before church since
their mother, Roxana, (a less active since she was 17) hadn't been
willing to bring them to church ever before. We weren't expecting them
to stay for church after the tour, but then they didn't even show up for
the tour until about 5 minutes before church started. But it wasn't
just the girls and Roxana, it was their dad (Armando) and older sister
(Stephany) as well! I was so excited as I saw them drive past the door
to park I was practically jumping up and down. I think the other
missionaries in my district think I'm crazy. (They're all attributing it
to me being a new missionary, but what they don't know is that I'm
planning on being this way my whole mission.)
We gave them a quick tour/lesson about what church is
like, and then they came to sacrament meeting! Then they stayed for all
the other meetings!!! It was especially a miracle since I was teaching
the sharing time in primary that day so we were able to do a member
split and I was with the girls in primary while Hna Whetten stayed with
the mom, dad, and older sister in gospel principles class. They all seemed to
really enjoy church, and the girls are planning to sing with the primary
for Mothers Day next week so they'll probably all definitely come again
which is a good start for a habit of coming to church!! We also got a
specific return appointment to teach the whole family!
Another miracle this week is that we doubled our goal (4) for new investigators. Finding new investigators is so important because when people aren't ready for the gospel yet or aren't willing to keep commitments you have to stop teaching them. Then you have to find new people to teach. Eventually a few of your investigators that you find will be ready and progress, but it takes a lot of finding to find those few.
Another miracle this week is that we doubled our goal (4) for new investigators. Finding new investigators is so important because when people aren't ready for the gospel yet or aren't willing to keep commitments you have to stop teaching them. Then you have to find new people to teach. Eventually a few of your investigators that you find will be ready and progress, but it takes a lot of finding to find those few.
Five of our new investigators were family members of
current investigators which is good because it means they already kind
of have a support system in place. They can learn together and talk
about questions they might have. They can also help each other remember
commitments like reading and praying. It's also good because once they
get baptized they will be able to support each other in being active in
the church. This really is why we've been asked to focus so much on
finding families!
There's a cool story associated with how we got 3 of our new investigators this week. We had gone to see Manuel (a new investigator from last week), but his wife answered and said he wasn't home but that we could come back the next day. When we arrived the next day she said he was working in the yard and to come back tomorrow. Instead we offered to help, and when she pointed out our clothes we luckily were able to tell her we had work clothes in our trunk. (Although I'd forgotten my tennis shoes so I worked in my 'church' shoes. They're sketchers though so it doesn't really count.)They let us help! It was so exciting and actually pretty fun because we were de-sodding part of the back yard with a pickaxe and moving it to the front yard with a wheelbarrow. After about an hour of work they had us come back inside, and we taught Manuel, his wife Maria, their daughter Maribel, and her daugher Melisa about the Book of Mormon and read the first part of 1 Nefi 1 with them. Then all four of them agreed to a return appointment for the next day where we taught the Restoration! The funny thing is that Manuel (the one we found first) is probably the least interested of the whole family. I think Maria will progress really well, and eventually lead her husband after her into the church.
Once again this really has been a week of miracles!
There's a cool story associated with how we got 3 of our new investigators this week. We had gone to see Manuel (a new investigator from last week), but his wife answered and said he wasn't home but that we could come back the next day. When we arrived the next day she said he was working in the yard and to come back tomorrow. Instead we offered to help, and when she pointed out our clothes we luckily were able to tell her we had work clothes in our trunk. (Although I'd forgotten my tennis shoes so I worked in my 'church' shoes. They're sketchers though so it doesn't really count.)They let us help! It was so exciting and actually pretty fun because we were de-sodding part of the back yard with a pickaxe and moving it to the front yard with a wheelbarrow. After about an hour of work they had us come back inside, and we taught Manuel, his wife Maria, their daughter Maribel, and her daugher Melisa about the Book of Mormon and read the first part of 1 Nefi 1 with them. Then all four of them agreed to a return appointment for the next day where we taught the Restoration! The funny thing is that Manuel (the one we found first) is probably the least interested of the whole family. I think Maria will progress really well, and eventually lead her husband after her into the church.
Once again this really has been a week of miracles!
Love,
Hermana Marin Hardy
Comments
Post a Comment