HelLlLoOoOoOo,
What a week it has been! I usually write a list of things to write to help me remember but I didn't have time this week so I will go by memory and see what happens! It's been a week filled with the usual highs and lows of missionary work! So many miracles usually accompany great hardships, but I love the hardships because that's when I feel my Saviour's arms around me when I pour out my soul to Him and plead for Him to walk beside me.
Let's begin with Zone Conference! Elder Don R Clarke of the Seventy came! I learned SO MUCH and we all felt like we wish it had been at the start of our missions. He just gave us a ton of practical advice to help our investigators stay active after baptism, or to even get them ready for baptism in the first place. We've made a checklist for each investigator to fulfil the things he said; it was like speaking in Sacrament, or sitting in the front row with them during Sacrament and having them pray during the Sacrament to know if these things are true, and having the male recent converts bless the Sacrament, and having members invite them over for dinner, and taking them to pay their tithing etc. It sounds so simple but it's stuff we'd never thought of before! If it had come a year ago it would've been awesome haha but we live and learn! He was pretty fired up and scary but he made us think a lot about how we want to be remembered by the leaders in our area! One line he said stuck out to me "the day a missionary learns to love the people more than they love themselves is the day they'll be happy" and I realized how true that is. Missionaries who are grateful and love their people more than they love getting high numbers or baptisms are so much more happier. Every day I am praying for more love and charity for my fellow missionaries and my investigators and my leaders. If I don't love them how can I profess to be Christ's representative? Funny part at the end, Elder Clarke asked for a fast typist to come up and type up everything that people put their hands up and say they had learned. All the Sisters pointed at me and I was terrified to get up in front of half the misison and type on a laptop that was hooked up to a huge board in front of everyone. I was typing really fast to keep up with all the things people suggested and so I'd type as they were speaking, and this Elder put his hand up and said "I learned that if no one takes us out to lunch we should call you and you will take us out to lunch!" and people chuckled and I typed as far as "If no one takes us out to lunch" before I realized what he was saying and I deleted it and wrote "No." on this huge board in front of all the missionaries and the Mission President and EVERYONE, and EVERYONE laughed really hard and I kept a really straight face and looked at the board in surprise and acted like I had no idea who just wrote that and how it got up there. ;)
Now for some miracles! We were at Church when CJ our ward mission leader texted us to say there was a non member at Church that we should meet so we arranged for him to come to the VC afterwards. He came with CJ, his name is A, and we gave him a tour and he loved it! He is from Vegas but is SOOO sweet! His brother is LDS and just got married in the Temple and he wants to learn more. So we taught him again on Wednesday and he accepted a baptismal date for 27th September. We invited him to pray to know that evening if it is true and stuff and we met with him Thursday afternoon and he looked us in the eyes and so sincerely said "I prayed and asked God if this is true and Sisters, I felt the Holy Spirit in me. I believe that this is all true and I want to be baptized" BEST MOMENT EVER. I will never tire of those moments!
Some VC miracles this week! I got tipped by an old couple haha ;) I tried not to accept but they wouldn't take no for an answer. Haha but I can honestly say that when they came through the door I loved them sincerely. I don't know what it was about them but I loved them and we connected instantly. They are Christian and attend a Grace Church in Illinois where they are from. I showed them around and talked about Joseph Smith and Prophets and the Book of Mormon and took them through God's Plan. At the end the man, D, was crying a LOT. He told me the most tender and heart-breaking story about how he served in Vietnam on a ship and while he was on his way there the Grandpa he was closest to died and it broke his heart and now in his old age he still misses him and longs for the day when he will see him again. He cried SO MUCH and I just wanted to hug him but couldn't obviously so just testified instead cos that's as good as a hug. I invited them to have the local missionaries come to their home and they readily agreed. D said that he knows he was supposed to go to the VC. They were supposed to be in Vegas but couldn't get there because of the flooding on the roads so were stuck here, and he said that God brought him in to the VC that day. I love them so much! I have their details and will teach them over the phone while the local misisonaries visit. Then they gave me money haha and I felt so bad and tried to not accept it but they wouldn't let me not.
We found this new investigator this week, and it is really strange but funny. We knocked on this door that had booming music behind it, pumping out Shakira, hips dont lie, REALLY loud haha. There was this Catholic Virgin Mary sticker on the door. We knocked and this person answered. It was strange because the person had pink painted toe nails, and an earring in each ear, and a girly face and sounded like a girl, but had absolutely no girly curves despite being a little bit overweight. So it's not like it was a just a skinny underdeveloped girl. We had no idea if it was a boy or a girl! We asked their name and they said J....... which is a boy name, but we swear it's a girl just with no chest haha. We taught J about the Restoration and he/she invited us back and we have sent the Spanish Elders over there because he/she lives with her Mum who only speaks Spanish. If they can meet the Mum and ask "Do you have any sons or daughters?" then hopefully we can find out the gender of J, hahahah!
We found this young man called Y who is interested in learning this week! He was just sitting on his sofa while we were talking to his roommate about the Restoration, completely not interested. We said the line "God has called a Prophet to the earth again today, someone who communicates face to face with God and shares with us what God tells him." and he literally JUMPED up and ran over to us and said "What?!?!?!?!? There's a prophet!!!!!!! Who? Where? Someone like ME who talks to God face to face?" he was so pumped about it. He said he'd be at Church and learn more so we're excited about that. We'll see! L our other investigator is still slowly moving along. It's hard to know how long to keep visiting before we drop him. We have a good enough relationship with him that we can say it like it is, and we kinda had a DTR with him so it was like pre-mission life haha. I was all "L, what are you expecting to get out of this? Where do you see this going?" haha. We told him he needs to cut out the arguing and actually do what we invite him to do or else there is no point us coming round because we're not here to argue. He said he will do better. We'll see.
We have a new Chinese investigator, they all pick their names so hers is J. She is super cute. It was a miracle how we found her because we were running to coordination meeting and this girl ran after us shouting SISTERS so we turned and ran back and she introduced us to J! We taught her and are seeing her again on Sunday. She is super cute, all the Chinese girls are so cute! I'm excited for her!
Remember D who was my first TC baptism? She dropped off the face of the earth and neither myself nor the Green Valley Sisters could find her. She changed her number and we had no idea where she moved to. I was so worried about her. Well we knocked on one of the dorms we cover and who answers but D!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was truly a miracle. Out of everywhere she could've moved to she was in one of the 3 apartment complex's we cover! Truly a tender mercy from the Lord!
Sad news.... J is supposed to be getting baptized tomorrow. But he chose yesterday to tell us he isn't sure about Joseph Smith anymore. It was a surprise because he answered the interview questions so well the week before when we asked him them but then bailed last night at 9pm! We were devastated. We bore testimony very strongly and tears might've been shed and we called the Assistants who taught him for a long time before we did. By this time the VC was closing and we went outside and the Elders came and we went into the Stake Center. They talked to him and gave him a blessing and then we all knelt down and prayed one by one. The Spirit was so strong and it was so intense in that little room. I have SO many memories in that Stake Center that I think it will always be a sacred place to me. So many life changing moments have taken place in those rooms. Anyway we left it that the baptism will be delayed for a few weeks and James told us this morning that he realizes he didn't put in enough effort to nourish his soul, and that we need to teach him from the beginning and he'll try harder. But he said he felt very good last night as we all prayed and he thanked us for that experience. We got back super late, it was like 10pm but it was all for a good cause. So no baptism tomorrow but we work hard to save his soul still! Meanwhile T from Hawaii is doing AWESOME! He told us that during Testimony Meeting he felt this warmth in his chest but it was weird because he wanted to cry at the same time haha. We explained what that was! He said he wanted to go up there and share his experience but he wasn't sure if he was allowed! He is so excited to be baptized! He is GREAT! With all our investigators I just picture them all as you, Dad. Just young boys who have no idea of the road ahead of them if they accept the things we teach them - such a switch of roads they'd be going down.
REAL FAST cos I'm outta time. My foot was still infected so last Friday I went back to the doctor cos I was miserable and they said that it was infected under the scab so I had to soak my foot and Sister Clark from South Africa stepped up to the plate and ripped the scab off my ankle and the infection out of my foot. It was all puss and gross and it hurt SO MUCH! I thought I was going to pass out haha!! I screamed and I think everyone in the VC heard it. It was all raw and open wound-like afterwards but the pressure and pain was gone and every day I scrub it with hydrogen peroxide and salt and this serum and I take a ton of antibiotics and pain killers. Its mending slowly. I work and just deal with it because I will go crazy if I sit anymore. There are souls to save!
I gotta go now!
I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH
The line in my subject is from Saviour Redeemer of my Soul, its been my song of the week!
Sister Nicholls
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