Monday, January 17, 2011

The Lord Prepares the Way...

This week has been full of blessings! The sowing (i.e. finding) last week reaped great rewards for us (i.e. lessons) this week. It truly feels miraculous that we are accomplishing so much! We are teaching new people and really fulfilling our purpose of inviting others to come unto Christ.

We have, of course, faced challenges. Our investigator, Caroline, feels strongly that God told her in prayer to stay away from the Book of Mormon. She told us that when she made her decision to stop investigating she felt more peaceful and happy. We immediately realised that she is feeling undue pressure. We tried to explain that feelings of relief are different than feelings of peace from the Spirit. She said she wants to continue reading the Book of Mormon but she is somewhat afraid to. She agreed to keep it up and we will be going by again next week to check up on her. The Adversary is clearly working very hard on her.

On the flip side, we had a big surprise this week! There is a man from Zimbabwe, Denford, who Sister Anderson and I found during her last week here. In our first lesson he explained that he already went to our church in Zimbabwe and that he had been baptised. He has been coming to church for two months and the ward loves him though he is difficult to understand. We have been teaching him as a less-active and last week he sheepishly asked if it would be possible to be baptised into our church! The sisters and I were in a bit of a daze. We did a really thorough inquiry and found that he was only investigating the church in Zimbabwe. He was baptised as a child into a different Christian church. He didn't think he could be baptised twice but says he really wants to be baptised into our church. As you might imagine I felt simultaneous elation and guilt! I can hardly believe we've been working with him this long and never knew! Denford is planning on being baptised on the 5th of February.

We are also teaching an elderly man named Leslie Wilson. He is at least eighty and so humble! He lost his wife ten years ago and says that he just wants to know once and for all if God is there. Most people that age just give up and say they are too old to change, but not Mr. Wilson! He's an avid reader and we are really excited to see his conversion through the Book of Mormon.

Did I ever tell you about Katie Benson? She is a woman that we taught right before Christmas and then disappeared. She is so sweet and prepared and to our dismay we lost contact with her after the new year. Well, last night we felt prompted to be on her street tracting. We have stopped by her many times to no avail but I just had this feeling to try once more. She was in! She came to the door and just threw her arms around me! Her phone broke and she has all of these family issues come up. There are a lot of other things/people that were getting in the way but she was so happy to see us and we will be visiting her again tomorrow. She needs the Saviour's help!

My companions are such great examples to me and I am loving our time together! I just wish it could last forever. I have felt more joy and satisfaction in the work the last three weeks than I ever expected to. Sister Lau is a perfect example to me of...everything really! I think she just might be perfect. I thought I was being exactly obedient but we've really brought the standard up a notch. I am trying really hard to acquire her traits before this transfer is over! Particularly, I hope to coming away with more dignity, more diligence and more love for the Lord. Sister Shen continues to amaze me with her diligence and focus. She really remembers the needs of particular people and you can tell she knows why she came on a mission. I told her about Julie Wang and she wants to know where she lived in Taiwan. Do you know?

I've been able to play violin at church two weeks in a row! It's been really great. I haven't lost as much as I thought I would. I have full confidence the Lord is blessing me.

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