Hi!
This week has been amazing. I think the biggest miracle
happened on Thursday. Sister Almeida went on a tour and got to see behind the
organ in the Tabernacle (I didn't get to go since I did it last year) and so I
just stayed in the Tabernacle and contacted people. Anyway, I started talking
to this man named Stanley from Nigeria who told me he was a convert. He served a mission in
Africa, and still has lots of family there.
Then I remembered that we had a
new investigator named Samuel from Nigeria (he came on mormon.org chat and I talked to him twice over the
phone). I had tried to look up where his nearest church was because he was
super interested in learning, but the closest one was a 5-hour walk from where
he lived.
I had tried to call the branch president for the church 5 hours away
to see if we could get any missionaries to visit Samuel in his city, but the service was terrible. He couldn't hear me at all and I
couldn't understand him so he hung up on me and the phone wouldn't go through
when I called again.
But when I met Stanley (the member in the Tabernacle), I
told him where Samuel lived and he said he was pretty sure there was a ward
there and he said he knew the mission president over the area so he'd call him
and figure everything out for me.
Well, it turns out in Samuel's city, there is
a "group." I think that means there's less than 15 members but I just
talked to Samuel today and he's going to go to church (well, the group) on
Sunday to see what it's like!
It never ceases to amaze me how aware God is of
everyone. I had just figured that the church was too far away for him to attend
and that there weren't any missionaries there. Only on Temple Square could you
meet someone living in the U.S. from Nigeria to help your investigator who
lives in Nigeria.
Another cool thing that happened is this guy I taught last
year with Sister Bellais emailed us and said he wants to learn again from
missionaries.
He was preparing to get baptized last year and had some
incredible experiences and answers from God confirming that the Book of Mormon
was true and that Christ leads and guide His church today through prophets and
apostles, but he called us one day and said he couldn't do it.
He has a masters degree in Catholic theology and actually teaches Catholic theology at a Catholic
school and he said it just wasn't the time for him.
I called him when I got
back from outbound (it was in November, I think) and we talked for a few minutes
over the phone but he still seemed pretty set on his beliefs so I just told him
if he ever does want to learn again, we are always happy to talk with him.
So, when we got an email from him this week, I was really surprised. I was even
more surprised when he told us that he had started reading the Book of Mormon
again because he felt like his spiritual life has gone dry and he wants to feel
like he has a relationship with God again.
I literally almost cried. I truly
believe that everyone has their own time and our role as missionaries is to
always invite people to come unto Christ because you never know when their
moment might be.
I love my Savior. I'm so grateful I'm a missionary. Hope you
have the best week!
Sister Helton
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| Last photo with President and Sister David Poulsen |
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