I love the pictures yall sent me! A looks so beautiful and J is growing up so fast! I can't wait to see our beautiful Isabel! Haha I can't believe that the tomato plant has grown so quickly and in such a short amount of time! Sister Ch and I got a little dollar home grow garden kit (I got the sunflower one of course!) and they have grown so quickly! I never knew how quickly plants could grow and flourish. It just goes to show that if a seed is planted in the right kind of soil and given proper nourishment it thrives. Kind of like the gospel ;) *wink wink*.
Anyway... I'm so sorry to hear about Bishop O, that's so sad. I am so grateful for the restored truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that ease the pain of loss. Thank goodness for the beautiful truths such as the Plan of Happiness! I'll be praying for the O family as well. I also love those quotes that you sent me! In fact I've had one of them on my wall the majority of my mission! Thank you for sharing them!! I hope that mom gets to feeling better soon, let her know how much I love her!!
The end of this week has been incredible! The majority of this week was going by really slow. My companion and I were working really hard and not seeing much success. When Saturday rolled around, we didn't see much improvement that is until the mid-afternoon/evening fell. It first began with R. About a month ago we were tracting in this trailer park. We met a lot of people who spoke Spanish and so it was very difficult to communicate with the little Spanish that we know. Towards the end of our time there we met a woman who spoke only the tiniest bit of English. She was cleaning out her car and when we walked up she expressed no interest in learning about the gospel so we offered our help instead. As we got to communicating a little bit with her she started to break down in tears and then she wrote something down on my planner because she couldn't speak it. On my planner it said a girls name, her age and that she had cancer. We found out that this woman was cleaning out her car to bring home her very sick daughter for what might be the last time. My heart sunk. By the end of our time with her we prayed together and hugged and then we parted not knowing if we would ever see her again because we were going to refer her to the Spanish sisters.
Skip to about a month later, we found out that some of the referrals we sent didn't go through so we decided to stop by their house again while we were in the area, even though we couldn't speak Spanish. When we knocked on the door again R answered. R is the father and speaks perfect English. We were able to talk to R and found out that he had never been in to religion much until his sister passed away from cancer and his daughter was now suffering from it. He said that he had never really spent time with his family until now and that although it has been really hard he is grateful for these times because they've taught him to cherish family. He said he was also grateful because N, the mother, has always been against religion, but now she prays and even though they don't know how to pray they help each other learn. We testified of the peace that comes from the gospel and the joy that comes from knowing that we can be with our families for ever. The Spirit was so strong! This Sunday we will be going over with one of the brothers in our Ward and his wife to give their daughter a blessing. His wife will be translating the blessing in Spanish to N, the mother.
Right afterwards my companion and I both got the prompting to follow up with another potential investigator that we had tried to send over to the Spanish Sisters. When we walked up to the house we immediately met R. Previously we had met R's cousin who said that R needed church in his life, at the time R didn't say much and we assumed it was because he didn't speak English, well it turns out that he does! The only downside is we can hardly understand a word he's saying hah! Anyway so when we saw R he immediately opened up to us. He expressed that he has been searching for truth and wants to change. We testified of the healing and enabling power of Jesus Christ and His gospel. While we were talking he handed my companion his phone and said to talk to his friend, because she needed more help than he did and wanted to share this message with her. While my companion was on the phone I was teaching R. By the end R kept saying that God had sent him angels that day.
When we were walking back to our car my companion told me that R's friend on the phone was a once a member of our church! She said that she had an amazing lesson with her and that my companion got her address! We will be sending a talk to her as well as a referral to some missionaries in North Carolina, where she lives. We found out later on that R had no idea that his friend had been a member!
Once we got in the car the Spanish Sisters called us and as we were talking they told us that the only referral that sent through from us was getting baptized this Saturday! When we heard his it was just the icing on the cake! I know that Heavenly Father is aware of us. He knows when are working hard, he knows when we are serving him with all that we have and he blesses us. After all, "God honors those who honor him". This is His work and I'm so grateful to be apart of it.
I can't believe that they're closing down the family history center in Orem! Will there be a new one? I hope Grandpa's new calling will be just as special to him. :) I'm glad that mom got my letter I made sure that I wrote two letters a couple P.Days ago and then sent them on different days so that she would get them and be surprised. I'm glad my plan worked! :)
Anywhoo...so transfers are this Wednesday. Sister Ch, my companion (above), will be leaving... :( which makes me really sad, but she will be training so I'm really excited for her! My new companion's name is Sister S. She will just be finished with training when I get her so I'll be "greenie-breaking", which should be fun. :) Fun fact: my new companion's trainer was one of my previous companions (Sister S).
This week we had several miracles. We brought one of our investigators, R, to the baptism of the referrals that I was telling y'all about last week. It turns out that there were three baptisms that night! Two of the people that were baptized were referred from us. We were able to witness the first baptism, but didn't get to witness our referral's baptisms. It turns out there was a miscommunication so the referrals came later. Their baptisms started at around 9pm so we couldn't stay, but at least we got to see them and I wish y'all could've seen the big smiles on their faces when they saw us. It was so nice to see their bright shining smiling faces! :)
So the baptism that we attended was completely in Spanish, but the Spirit there was soooo strong! It was wonderful! On Sunday we went to the hospital with one of the members of our Ward and his son (who just returned from his mission) and his daughter to give R’s daughter a blessing. Again it was completely in Spanish, but the Spirit there was so beautiful and powerful. :) In the blessing Ya was given a blessing of total recovery! As well as several other wonderful blessings. Afterwards her mother asked us if we would go to her friend and give her son a blessing. We did and it was a great experience. Y’s blessing and experience was a testament to me in so many ways. What it shows first off is that when we experience something that helps us so much, our natural reaction is to share what has helped us with those we love. Elder Bednar was talking about this also in his talk "Come and See" from General Conference a little while back. Y'all should check it out. :)
Anywhoo I don't have a lot of time today so I wanted to let y'all know that I love y'all soooooooo much-oooooooooo!!!!!! Remember that y'all are always in my prayers!
I love y'all sooooo much-oooooopoo!!!!!!!! Remember that y'all are always in my prayers!
Lots of love (from your favorite Sister Missionary),
Sister Megan Rice
