Like I mentioned last email, this transfer has not been
ANYTHING I expected it to be. However, I truly am full of joy and loving
every moment, even though outwardly we are not experiencing the success
we would like. This transfer, the Lord has really been teaching me a
lot about finding success even in failure. (Maybe I shouldn't say
"failure"....that sounds a bit harsh! haha.) I am really learning to
seek approval from Him, as well as to see the other fruits of my labors
even if they aren't so obvious. I had the goal to leave this branch
better than I left it when I came in, and I really feel like I have done
that. This last transfer especially, we have watched the changes occur
in the branch and its members as we just reached out to them. I truly do
feel like I will be leaving it better than when I came. I had the
opportunity to give a "final talk" yesterday and even though I felt like
I didn't get as much preparation time as I usually do, I think it was
one of the best talks I've ever given. It was all about the Restoration
of the gospel. It was so cool to see the Spirit speak through me as I
said things I hadn't planned on talking about, and it was especially
incredible to feel the strength and power behind my words as I bore my
testimony at the end. I had a lot of members comment on the talk
afterwards and Sybil told me I should be a public speaker.
But the COOLEST thing this week has been the many
miracles we have seen! We are teaching an AMAZING girl named Felicia.
She is literally the only one we're teaching right now. But she is
INCREDIBLE. She is trying to make a LOT of changes in her life,
especially overcoming addictions. She has a "home church" but when we
taught her the Restoration it clicked and she understood that not every
church is true. She asked us, "What happens if you've been going to the
wrong church?" and we were able to have a good discussion about how God
leads honest seekers of truth to His church, just like He has been
leading her. We had asked her earlier in the week to come to church with
a question that she wanted God to answer. She hadn't been able to think
of one, but after our discussion on the Restoration, she said that she
wanted to come to church with the question, "Is this the true church?" I
was so excited for her to come this Sunday because I knew that all the
talks would be focusing on the Restoration and the Book of Mormon.
During the last talk, she wrote something on her hand. Afterwards, she
showed it to us with a huge grin and this is what she had written: "God
just answered my question." (And it was a yes!) WOW! So cool. She is so
amazing. We are praying hard that she will be able to be solid in
living the commandments and avoiding her addictions so she can be
baptized before I leave.
This week we were really focused on relying on
the Spirit and acting on all promptings. We had some amazing
experiences as we did so! One of the biggest ones was on Thursday night.
We had taken Sybil, or recent convert, out teaching with us and had
stopped by to try and visit another recent convert. He wasn't there but
his brother was. We had taught his brother a little bit before but he
hadn't been super interested. We ended up having a pretty awkward
conversation with him and we both were trying to decide whether or not
we should have a lesson with him...and we both kind of wanted to...but
we ended up just leaving. Anyways, we are driving back on the Palmetto
Expressway and I just keep thinking about. I just kept thinking, dang....we should have taught him! And
then Sybil mentioned something about how the conversation was really
awkward and how she could see in his eyes that he had some questions for
us. And then Sis Gordon said she felt bad that we hadn't taught him.
And I realized, We have to go back! I
voiced it, kind of as a wild idea at first....like, "What if we went
back right now and taught him?! Would that be crazy?" (The answer was
yes, because we'd been on the freeway for 10ish minutes and it was
getting late and we were already 50 streets away) But I just kept
talking about it....and we all felt, YES, we need to go back! So I
was like, "Look for an exit!! Where's the next exit?!" And we finally
got to one and we turned around and went back. Sister Gordon texted
Enrique to make sure he didn't leave his house and told him we forgot
something and were coming back. We showed up to the house and sadly....he wasn't there. I
was kinda bummed. But as we were walking back to the car, we saw
ANOTHER boy we had taught a couple of times whose dad is actually a
member of the church. I said, "That's why we're here! We're supposed to
teach Derek!" So we ran across the street and I said, "Derek, God sent
us to visit you tonight because we have a message for you!" And he was
so shocked that I don't think he could have left even if he'd wanted to.
So we started talking to him and then during the conversation, Enrique
showed up too. He asked us what we'd forgotten. And we told him, "God
sent us back here because He knew that you had some questions for us,
and we forgot to answer them! So....what do you want to know?" He too
was a little taken aback. But all in all, it ended up being an AWESOME
experience and we all felt super great afterwards. Sybil was pumped to
serve her own mission. Yeahhhh! I am grateful that we listened to and
acted on that prompting of the Spirit!
Well, I love you all. Other wild moments of
the week included playing volleyball in a skirt and getting in a bad car
accident last night...but don't worry, we are doing well. Now we just
get to figure out how to work our area this week without a car....!
Hmm...
SO keep praying for us and our area! I plan to have the most fabulous week EVER.
Sister Dougal
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| Felicia |
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