Konichiwa!
I really need to think of more
creative greetings... I'm open to suggestions.
The weeks go so fast! It's
amazing. Here's some information about my weekly station.
On Tuesday we taught one of our
investigators named Michael. We already had taught him the Restoration and the
Plan of Salvation, and both were really spiritual lessons, but it'd been a
while since we saw him, and he's never been to church. Anyways, we met him at
the chapel and taught him with a guy named Owen. Michael won't get work off on
Sundays because he needs the money, and he gets double pay on Sundays. We
helped him understand how important church was, but he still wasn't willing to
get Sundays off. So we had to drop him... He seemed disappointed that we were
no longer planning on meeting with him. After the lesson, he talked to us a bit
and we messed around with a basketball a bit in the hall. I feel like he really
liked us, enjoyed meeting with us, and felt the Spirit when we met with him.
But as of right now, he won't progress because he won't make a way for him to
come to church. It was sad to let him go. Hopefully somewhere down the line he
will find a way to come to church and other missionaries can help him!
So on Sunday 24 Jan, we found a
new investigator named Lucy. She had headphones in when we stopped her. We
talked a little bit and she asked us "why'd you stop me?" and we
said, a little taken aback, "we're just talking to people. We invite
everyone". We set up an appointment with her and we met on Thursday.
The lesson with Lucy was the best
first lesson of my mission. We set some really good expectations in the beginning
of the lesson. She committed to prayer and reading, but not church. We then
taught the restoration, and I think she understood it well. We taught her about
the Sabbath day, and then committed her to church. We then taught her about
baptism and committed her to 28-Feb conditional on her knowing that it's true!
The miracle of this story is that Lucy told us that she set some new years
resolutions at the start of this year. And one of them was to get closer to
God, and she even prayed for it, too! And then we bump into her on Moulsham
street... and that's why she asked why we stopped her. There are no
coincidences. This is truly the Lord's work.
We taught Tas and Somaya on
Friday! They're doing really well. We followed up on the Word of Wisdom, and Somaya
told us that she was with some friends and ordered coffee out of habit, drank
half, and then felt bad so she didn't drink anymore. I think it was on Tuesday
that this happened... and she hadn't had any coffee since.
Here's a mini miracle: On Saturday
night, we called Sam Wheeler (I love this guy so much) at 9:10pm asking if he
could have us and Tas and Somaya over after church for a meal. He could'n't,
but he said he could ask the Watlings and Andria Deighton because they were in
the car with him. Turns out, the Watlings could do it! I called Somaya, and she
said they had no plans for after church, so they could go to the meal. She was
happy about it!
So we had 4 people confirmed for
sacrament meeting Sunday... and then... none of them were there... haha here's
why: Lucy was ill, Julie Batts had her grandson stay over Saturday night and
the grandson wasn't getting picked up until 9ish (when church starts), and Mark and Julia's car broke down this morning... they got to church a little after
11am. But, Mark and Julia had a great experience for the last lesson in church,
great fellowshipping after church, and a wonderful meal with them and the
Watlings after church, too.
Mark texted us yesterday saying
"Thank you guys it was an amazing day spent, really loved all of
it....Thank you."
Also, here's part of another text
from Julia from 25-Jan "We also loved our visit in the church it was better
than my expectation and imagination. We will definitely visit next time"
Mark and Julia are amazing.
I'm really enjoying my study of
the Book of Mormon! I'm understanding it well, and feeling the Spirit as I
read! It's the bomb.com
I'm currently reading in Mosiah,
and a theme I recognise is that laziness and being idle leads to wickedness,
whereas laboring, being industrious, and continually turning to God leads to
prosperity! Reading about Zeniff, King Noah, and the people in Lehi-Nephi and
their interaction with the Lamanites is so interesting, and I'm grateful that
the Lord is opening my mind and my heart to understanding it better. The BoM is
the Bomb.
I love you all and hope you have
a great week!
Love,
Elder Withers
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