Three Lessons

There were some great things that happened this week! I'll tell you about three of the lessons we had this week that were particularly meaningful.

There is a less active family that we saw a few times when we first got here, but they wouldn't keep appointments and when they did they seemed a little bit disinterested, so we hadn't seen them in a few weeks, but the mom called and asked us to come over last week. Sage has a son who has really struggled with making some bad decisions in the past few years, but recently out of nowhere he's been thinking about the possibility of going on a mission, but he's just not sure how to get himself out of the place he's in. I've been studying personal revelation for 10 minutes each morning as part of my personal study (a suggestion from Pres Bonham) since one of the things I'd like to improve on is recognizing promptings from the spirit and acting on them. When we were planning for the lesson I suddenly had the thought that we needed to read Alma 36 with them- the thought was so quiet that at first I wasn't sure, but it came out of nowhere and as I turned to Alma 36 the feeling became more powerful. Throughout the day I was a little bit afraid, worrying if the thought really had been a prompting from the spirit or if it was just my own thoughts, and I didn't want Sister Turley to be upset with me if it didn't end up being what they needed. When we got to the lesson and began talking with them it was absolutely incredible how apparent it was that Alma 36 really was what they needed to hear. We read it and testified about change through Jesus Christ, and Esteban started to cry. I felt really bad for him, because his family started to ridicule him for it, but we told him that it was the spirit he was feeling. We invited him to say a prayer at the end of the lesson, and his prayer was so sincere. Esteban is very humble and I think that he would make a great missionary. We actually just started teaching Sage's brother Jeremy who is not a member, and we have another lesson with him tonight, so hopefully he is interested.

On Saturday we had another lesson with Bennett and Verna. Throughout my mission so far I've had moments where I felt guided by the spirit, but never an entire lesson, and this was the first time that I can really say that the entire lesson was guided by the spirit! I'm not sure what came over me, but somehow I was able to not worry about what I was going to say or whether or not what I was saying was coming out right, but when it was my turn to speak I just talked, and as I did scriptures and thoughts just popped into my head instantly. It was amazing! We finally finished the Plan of Salvation lesson, and we also talked a lot more about baptism in this lesson. At the end I invited them to be baptized, and they both said that that's something they would like, but they need to study and pray more. It just felt natural to ask them to be baptized, and I think it's because I just have such a big love in my heart for those two wonderful people. Bennett surprised us by telling us that he finished 1 Nephi this week and he has also been praying (last week he told us that he was hesitant to actually read the Book of Mormon because he was afraid that reading it would "convince him" and he wants to know its true before he reads so he knows he's not being persuaded... haha) Bennett also told us that since we have been coming, people from his past dreams have been appearing in dreams again and "telling me interesting things and answering questions" He told us he doesn't want to tell us about it quite yet, but soon... I am so curious! I think that his brother Bobby is working pretty hard from the other side. Way to go, Bobby! Verna also said something interesting. She said: "I think the Lord knows that he's already got me, he just hasn't told me yet..." Hmm. I hope that that means what I think it means. :) Sadly, yet again Bennett and Verna didn't come to church yesterday even though it sounded like they were going to. Next week I'm kidnapping them and dragging them to church in their pajamas if I have to. :)

We also finally had a second lesson with Shannon this week. The spirit was very strong there as well, and after telling him about the restoration, we invited him to be baptized, and he said that it's something he definitely wants to think about. Shannon has been making a lot of amazing changes in his life, and you can tell that he has been prepared recently to hear the gospel. Since half of our investigators seem to be African American, we've decided that we look forward to having a "blacktism" in the coming weeks. (Don't worry, there was a black elder serving here a few transfers ago who coined the term, so therefore I'm not being racist... :) haha)

I feel like I'm working as hard as I can right now, but sometimes I feel overwhelmed by just how much more improvement I have to go to be a good missionary. One of the biggest fears I have is that by the time my mission is over I will just barely have learned how to be a good missionary, and by that time I'll be going home.

We had a lesson with River this week that will go down in the history books as the worst member present lesson imaginable. Oops. We won't go into that haha. All can be made right through the atonement of Jesus Christ, right? We invited 11 people to be baptized this week! So that was cool. We decorated a cake for the ward linger longer. We're teaching a wicken woman. We always seem to have investigators, but none of them actually want to progress. In the words of our wise district leader, "Plead, Promise, Persist, then after that accept that people have their agency." Also, I have to remind myself frequently that you succeed when you invite.

This week is the week we are going to have someone on date for baptism, I can feel it!!!

I think about you guys all the time, and keep you in my prayers.

I love you!

Love, Sister Slade