Halloween Miracles
Hello family!
I don't really know how to sum
up this week into a few words so I'll just tell ya about it
So first of all... literally
ALL of our scheduled and rescheduled appointments fell through this week. Agh!
Frustrations. However, we didn't let that get us down.
Sister Licona and I went to
work trying to contact and find people! And we were able to meet a lot of less
actives we didn't know before and talk with a few people who told us we
"shouldn't be in their neighborhood", or that they "already got
Jesus"
BUT lo and behold, our hard
work and efforts paid off!!! Thursday night was the chili cook off/trunk or
treat ward activity. And you know we invited everyone and their stray dog!
Seriously though, we were able to contact a former investigator Family (the
Rayburn's) the day before and invite them and they CAME! And so did Leah and
her friend and 2 of the less actives we invited AND our other investigator
who's living with less actives and our recent converts and IT WAS JUST AMAZING!
They were able to meet so many members of the ward and the chili was good and
so we're the costumes! It was a good night.
Then we had a few more miracles
that I want to share , that really helped to solidify my testimony that this is
the true church.
First miracle would be Friday
morning.... the elders asked us to come and do service with them for a less
active member. Turns out we were doing service for the nonmember guy Tony who
lives with less actives. He asked us to help him clean out his basement/cellar.
And he's like "you will get dirty. And it will be revolting." So you
could just imagine how we were feeling. His basement has all these waste
materials from his construction work and they'd been sitting there for like yrs
probably and the water and mud had washed into the place from yrs of rain so it
really soiled and rotted everything. To keep things short, let's just say I was
praying that God would help me not freak out or be too grossed out. So to get
my mind off things, I figured, well, let's get to know this guy! We ended up
talking to him the entire time about his religious background, and for some
reason, I felt to be super bold. We ended up teaching him the entire
restoration in answer to his questions, such as, "if God is so loving,
then why would He doom us to burn in hell after this life?" Or "why
are there so many different churches if there is one God?" We testified to
him that God does love us and has provided those answers for us through living
prophets in these latter days. The truth has been restored. He said he would
read the Book of Mormon to know and also come to church on Sunday! The elders
are going back Tuesday as well to teach him more. Good things coming!!
Next miracle was that night.
Okay so at the VC, it's been slower, and it's not super duper common for
nonmembers to come in, (least I haven't had a ton of experience with it)
HOWEVER that day, Two guys came in back to back who were super interested in
the church history and weren't members. The first guy was pretty cool, he just
loves the church and stuff but doesn't believe the Book of Mormon (?!?) haha
but then the next guy that came in was RLDS. But to be more specific, this guy
was not part of the now Community of Christ church, but part of a few split off
groups called Restoration Branches. He had been a tour guide at Nauvoo and such
for years and really has a passion for Joseph Smith. So we took him on the
history tour and he was super into it, (like taking a normal active member
through) but the last video got him. I have never been so thankful for this
video!! At the end of the history tour, there is this super powerful video
where it shows different video clips starting at the pioneer trek and showing
the progression and growth of the church until today. The spirit is so strong
any time you watch it! So this guy watches it, and afterward, we ask him what
he felt as he watched it. He goes, "You know, I've always been jealous of
the Mormon church."
That took us off guard, so I'm
like, "why are you jealous of our church??"
"Well because my church
was really strong, and now we are just declining ... then your church just
keeps getting stronger."
"And why do you think that
is?"
He said it was because we had
our focus on the family and that that was really foundational for a strong
church. But he told us that he "was thinking about a lot of things during
that video" but didn't really want to admit what. But we testified to Him
that this was the true church and invited him to ponder on what he'd felt and
thought here. And he ended up asking a lot of questions about what we believe
on life after death so we gave him a plan of salvation Pamphlet and our number!
But that guy felt something and knew it was true. And he'll be back.
Last miracle was last night!! So
we had dinner with this poly family the Polis lol (pole-y) but we had such a
good discussion with Brother Poli who is just an awesome member. He said
something he learned on his mission was this:
"With the quote that no
unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing ...That is true with people
who will accept the Gospel! They're going to accept it mo matter what. God
knows that. Nothing will truly get in the way of that when their time is right.
Whether or not we get to be apart of that p, however, is dependable on if we
are perfectly obedient and working hard. That is what will will qualify us to
be a part of their conversion."
So we left that dinner with SO
much excitement and motivation to be obedient and find those people! We didn't
have a lot of time, and after we tried a few people who weren't home, we felt
like we should try this other less active. It was like 8:25pm and we were worried they
would be freaked out cus it was late (and they were) but they let us in and
long story short we ended up answering a lot of Rikky(the member)'s husband
(can't remember his name) questions he had. Such as "why makes you Mormons
so different than baptist if we all believe the same bible?" So we taught
the Restoration, and it wasn't getting through to him so we just testified to
him and told him that if he really wanted to know, he had to read and pray and
act to know for himself. Anything we said wouldn't convince him, only the
spirit. Then Sister Licona bore the most powerful testimony about Jesus Christ
and His church and this man standing there, skeptical before us, smoking a
cigarette, softened a little and said we could come back on Wednesday before he
went to work!!! Pray that it happens and goes well!!
I just want to keep working so
hard so I can be worthy to be a part of someone else's miracle of conversion
and just help anyone I can find the truth.
Because this gospel is amazing
and I know it's true with my whole heart.
I love you all.
Hope you had a happy birthday
Dallin!!
️
(Oh and happy Halloween
tomorrow! Stay safe.)
Ps.
They have authorized us to use Facebook as missionaries so if you see some
activity from me, don't be afraid. But don't try to contact me because I will
be using it strictly for missionary purposes, but I will chat with you in a
month
🏼
Pics:
Our
chili cook off!
Dressed
up as Alma and amuleck
Rosalyn!!
I stand
all amazed.
Oh yeah,
got a spider bite when doing service.... don't worry I'm on an antibiotic
And
pretty red trees!!!
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