Miracles

Man, the time really does fly by!  I didn't believe it when people said they felt like they were just at the computer and now are back again but it is true!  The days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days.  And this week has certainly flown by!

So this week, we have done a lot of tracting, trying to find new people to teach.  As of right now, we only really have one person that is progressing like we want them to.  Her name is Helga; she is a grandma and takes care of 7 little kids under the age of 8.  She is such a sweet lady and is really accepting and eager to learn more but is struggling with some personal and family problems right now.  She was supposed to be baptized this Saturday but this week told us that she wants to push it back till the 31st of August because then hopefully life will settle down for her.  So that was kind of a bummer but she comes to church every Sunday with her kids and is excited to be baptized in August (I guess the 31st is her birthday as well so she wants her new life to start the day she was born).  Speaking of kids at church, if anyone has any good ideas or games that would be good for Sacrament meeting, please let me know!  We are putting together a 'mommy bag' for when we bring investigators to church and want something to help with the kids so the parents can actually pay attention in the meeting. 

We have another guy, Ricky, that works at a group home.  It's funny how we met him.  So we were out tracting (knocking on doors) and we go by this home and there is this guy sitting out front.  You can kind of tell how he was acting and looked that he had some kind of mental handicap.  But the gospel is for everyone!  So we went up and started a converstation with him.  His name is Jeff and he came over on the Tuscany ship in 1492.  I guess it was quite an adventure.  So Ricky, he saw us talking to Jeff and came out to see what we were doing.  We introduced ourselves and he said he was interested and wanted to know more!  So we sat down outside with him (Jeff kind of walked around us) and started teaching him.  He seems pretty interested so we'll see how that goes!  But while we were talking, Jeff told us that he was there at the Sermon at the Mount and that he and Jesus were best buds.  I think that it is going to be fun ;) 

Sisters Verkist and Nunn are Sister Training Leaders for the zone,  they are like zone leaders but over the sisters.  Because of that, they have to go on exchanges with the sisters in our zone.  Sooooo, on Thursday they went to Fallon, NV and I went out with some other sisters our area....Spanish speaking.  That was an adventure!  My conversations usually went like this, "hola!" *smile, nod, smile, nod etc...* "adios!".  Even though I understood less than 20% of the conversation (thank you high school Spanish!) it was fun to listen to the lessons.  I could feel the Spirit so strong and testifying that what the Sisters said was true.  It was such a neat experience!  And the people were so nice.  One lady pulled me into a hug and kissed me on both checks and then just started talking (really fast!!) in Spanish.  I was just like, "Sorry, I don't speak Spanish."  Then her husband says, great!  Then we can say whatever we want about you and you won't know!  Then he turns to the Sisters and says something and they start laughing.  So of course I get bright red and asked what he said.  Apparently he said that I have beautiful eyes...they remind him of grapes.  Haven't heard that one before!

One thing that really stood out to me this week was a devotional given by the Stake President.  Every transfer he has all the missionaries come to his house for breakfast and then he welcomes the new people to the area.  This transfer, he talked about miracles.  Our God is a God of miracles and missionary work CANNOT happen without miracles.  He challenged each of us to pray everyday for miracles and then expect them to happen.  My companions and I have really taken that to heart.  On Saturday, after the devotional and before our studies, we got on our knees and asked God if He would give us miracles that day, specifically that we would be able to find someone who is ready to hear the gospel and that we could teach.  Almost right after the prayer, we get a phone call from two less active ladies that we have been working with for the longest time.  We invite them to church every week but they always have some excuse or another.  The purpose of the phone call was to tell us that they were coming to church this Sunday (and they did!) and that they would be there every Sunday after that as well.  Talk about fantastic!  Then later that day we went out tracting with some of the youth in the ward.  We split up the street and started down it.  The first few houses were like normal...."no thank you, we have a religion", "get lost",  no answer, etc.  but then at the next house, there is a guy outside cleaning out his car.  We start talking to him and he is super friendly and open with us about God and religion and his beliefs.  Then his wife comes home.  We ask if we can share a message of Christ and they invite us in!  It was a great talk and we left a Book of Mormon with them.  They invited us to their church (the way they phrased it sounded like they thought it was us that needed saving) but said we could come back AND they gave us 4 strawberry plants.  I have no idea what we are going to do with them but there you go.  At the next house, a lady opens the door and has heard about Mormon's and some of our beliefs.  So she is asking us questions and throwing scriptures at us, she was super knowledgeable, it was so much fun!  Sis. Nunn shared the First Vision with her.  It was so powerful; you could see her tearing up and could see the Spirit testify to her that it was true.  One of her concerns was that she didn't think that there was anything else out there, the Bible should be enough.  So I asked her if there WAS more truth out there, wouldn't she want to have it?  That stopped her for a moment.  She still seemed skeptical but agreed to take the Book of Mormon and really read and pray about it.  She was sincere!  I don't know if anything will come out of those two meetings but it really was miracles for us and an answer to our prayers!  I know that Heavenly Father truly does hear our prayers and that He will, without question, always answer them.  He wants to bless us!  He is just waiting for us to ask. 

Well that's that from Nevada for this week!  Hope you all have a fantastic week!

Sis. Rae