Hi!
Ok, this week has been amazing. So, on Tuesday we had zone
conference all day which put us in a difficult situation because Sister Almeida
and I knew we wouldn't be able to call any of our investigators.
Ever since Sunday we really wanted to get a hold of Samuel because he called us and left us a
voicemail but because of the time difference between Utah and Nigeria, we
hadn't been able to call him back. So we just decided to go to Temple Square at
like 7 am on Tuesday before zone conference started and call him and we just
prayed he would pick up the phone.
Well, he did answer the phone and so
naturally we asked him how church went on Sunday (it would be his second time
going) and he told us HE GOT BAPTIZED.
At first, we thought he said he watched
a baptism and so we were like, "Oh that's cool, who got baptized?"
And then he was like, "I did! They did it by immersion and next week I'll
be confirmed and receive the Holy Spirit!"
So, we're not really sure how
he was allowed to get baptized since he's only been to church once and has only
met with the missionaries a few times but it was amazing.
We asked him why he
wanted to be baptized and how he felt when he was baptized and he just simply
said,
"I felt a peace, strength, clarity and a freedom I've never felt before."
It was amazing. Seriously, if we had never met Stanley on the square and
through him been able to locate the missionaries and group in Samuel's village,
this would have never happened. Members make ALL the difference in missionary
work.
I feel like this week in all the lessons we've taught, the
people we've been teaching have taught me so much. We have been working with a
girl who is less active that we met on Temple Square and she asked us to
re-teach her the lessons so she comes to Temple Square once a week and we talk
for about 20 minutes.
Yesterday, we went over the the Plan of Salvation and we
were talking about the pre-existence, the fall and our life on earth and how
God's plan for us is perfect.
At the end of the lesson she was bearing her testimony
and said in the most simple, beautiful way,
"If we never made mistakes, we
could never repent; and if we could never repent, we could never improve and be
better."
When she said that the Spirit just hit me like a ton of bricks and I
just felt so grateful for the mistakes I have made and that because of the
Savior allowing me to repent and granting me that forgiveness, I have been able
to improve and gradually, day by day, become better because of Him.
The other little insight I gained this week was about
prayer.
One of our investigators just keeps on telling us that his decision to
meet with the missionaries and really decide to commit to be baptized has come
down to a matter of prayer.
But, he feels like God isn't really showing him
what he should do. He's reading the Book of Mormon for the second time and has
had the lessons before, but he's still just stuck and unsure.
I was studying
for him and just kept thinking about Matt. 7:7 which says so simply:
"Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you."
I think this verse, or a slight variation of this verse, is found
like 100 different times in the New Testament and Book of Mormon.
I just kept
saying it over and over in my mind because I believe that this very simple
sentence is the key to receiving revelation from God. I mean, why else would it
be written a hundred times in the scriptures?
I realized that when it says to
"Ask" it obviously means to pray.
When it says "seek" it's
referring to studying the scriptures.
And when it says "knock,
" I think it means action. If you knock on a door, you probably intend to go inside whatever building you're knocking on.
I think that is where I often times mess
up this means of receiving revelation. I think this is what is messing him up
as well. He's asking for these answers from God, but doesn't really intend to
take that step and walk inside the building (if you know what I mean). I do
this a lot too. I want an answer but I think when I receive the answer I want,
than I'll take the step in the direction I want to go and it doesn't work like
that.
Anyways, love you so much! Hope you have the best
week.
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| Saying goodbye to our apartment |
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| Last day on Welfare Square with Sister Kleine (Germany) and Sister Kogure (Japan). We bought Little Ceasear's every week which is why she's holding the box of pizza in the picture. The manager there started to recognize us and started giving us free crazy bread after a few weeks :) |
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