Okay, I'll start from the beginning...After sacrament meeting, we were disheartened to see that we had zero investigators at church...we wondered why sister gossett (less active...andrew's mom...andrew is cady's boyfriend) wasn't there when she just told us last night that she'd be here...We received a text from her saying that Andrew and Cady had broken up and that Andrew is a mess and Cady has already left the house..O.o Sister Hosking and Fletcher were worried at first that this was going to be bad..But I felt an overwhelming peace that this is what needed to happen and that this is the best thing for Cady..Last night, was the CES devotional so we invited Cady to the Institute building and she happily came..When we saw her, she was all smiles and full of light..We talked afterwards and this is everything she said:
-she realized that Andrew was holding her back..in the fall when she said that she wanted to be baptized, andrew freaked out and did not let it happen..this broke her heart..since then, she has felt so guilty meeting with us because she was still living with him and she wanted to be baptized so badly..Andrew would always tell her that he's working to save up for a ring when in reality he would just blow his money on video games..she didn't want to live with andrew and sister gossett for the rest of her life..she wants to finish school, get married and have a family..when we met with her on friday, she asked us, "How do you receive answers to prayers?" we explained to her that there are many ways..the first: read your scriptures..an apostle once said, "if you want to talk to God, pray.If you want God to talk to you, read your scriptures." Ever since she asked us that, I had been pondering why specifically she did so..what answer was she in need of? everything was made clear yesterday...she's so excited now and she feels so relieved. Her only remorse is the pain she caused Andrew. But she's so unbelievably excited to get baptized and go to the temple asap...OH MY WORD. AH.
We had fasted as a companionship that our investigators would be able to recognize and receive answers to their prayers. And within hours, this miracle happened. The power of fasting is so real and I know that God hears and answers our prayers. All we have to do is have a sincere heart, willing to act upon the answer you receive..For example..if you're reading the Book of Mormon and you want to know it's true, are you willing to accept the call from the Savior and be baptized when you learn of its truth? If not, you will not receive your answer. I learned from the devotional last night that we must truly be HUMBLE when we pray..When we pray, we align our will with God's..We don't try and convince Him..Being humble means that you're willing to do whatever He tells you to do..I know that this is true and I'm so grateful for the power of prayer.
Aside from that wonderful miracle, we have had many..Minutes before the devotional, we wanted to talk to someone, to teach someone..We decided to go to a trailer park and sing to someone..Of course, the one trailer we knock on, it happened to be a white person (there's nothing against white people, we just had our spanish hymn books...)..The woman was sitting there in her whitey-tighties when her little boy threw the door open for us and cig smoke poured out of the tiny trailer..awk..We asked if it was a good time thinking that it wasn't...and she invited us in haha....we sang Divina Luz (Leady Kindly Light) for her and her husband...As soon as we began to sing, the Spirit filled the room with warmth..The spirit speaks every language..Even though they couldn't understand what we were singing, we knew that they felt the pure love of Christ. We asked them a few questions and she said that her daughter "is a convert to the LDS faith". holy cow! We invited her to church and she said, "maybe i'll see yall on sunday!"
it's the little miracles like these that I love so much.
This week was a little challenging when it came to our search for new investigators..But I feel like every rejection brings me even closer to the Savior..He was rejected by the world. His own people crucified Him..3 nephi 9:16"I came unto my own, and my own received me not."
I love every aspect of the mission. I love learning every day and growing closer to the Savior..
Another miracle: We had 20 minutes before we had to be home one night...We had no idea what to do..Hermana Fletcher felt like we needed to go finding somewhere so...she picked Target! haha...we walked around, passed out English class flyers and began to leave the parking lot. Hermana Hosking saw a young man pulling all of the shopping carts back into the store and she said, "Lets stop and give him a pass along card!" She hopped out and gave Michael a card..Since then, we've been texting him..He wanted to come to the devotional last night and bring a friend but something came up..He worked during church..but he wants to meet with us this week!
Amazing things happen when you open your mouth! You'll never know who is ready until you speak to someone!
I hit my 8 month mark today..wow..i really am in disbelief..Is it possible to love your mission too much? I don't think so :)
We had zone conference this week! Remember how I spoke at the last one? Well, I had to speak again! I totally thought that I'd be off the hook but nope, I got called yet again! There is nothing more intimidating than speaking in front of 100 missionaries! I'd rather get hockey pucks shot at my head! Just kidding, I loved the opportunity that I had to uplift my fellow missionaries..
After the talks, there was time to bear your testimony..An elder who came out with me got up and spoke...holy smokes..i was in awe..When we were in the mtc together he told us that he was there just to make his family happy and to follow his brothers' footsteps..Well, he is a completely different person and I almost began to cry at the mighty change of heart that I witnessed. Missions make you into the person Heavenly Father created you to be. I know this work is true and I know that it is through the gospel of Jesus Christ, our human natures are changed and we become more and more like the Savior as we put away our needs and turn out to God's children.
The church is true.
Love,
Hermana Emma Seymour
some of the kids in the trailer park that we taught...they sit in the back of our car and we teach :)
i love walking the dusty streets and finding the Lord's prepared children!
yay for trailor parks!
CLAYTON CAME BACK!! he visited for a few hours this week so we took a lunch break and saw him! He's the best!
If you want God to talk to you... ask him :) Love longs to communicate. Walking with Jesus has personally been the best choice I've ever made, hes taken me to odd parts of the world, like the middle east! Miracles for me weren't just people experiencing Christ and finding restoration in him; it was laying hands on people for 10 seconds of prayer and feeling their tendon snap powerfully back into place, to see the limp they'd struggled with dissipate 100% afterwards, and be consistently gone thereafter. Having demons commanded out of people and allowing them to hear Jesus for the first time and feel heavy social/spiritual/physical shame lifted from there, to the extent they burst out "Isa al maseeh (Jesus) has taken away my sin, I have been washed in his blood!" As worship was played, rain danced in synchronization with the amount of force the guitar was strummed, to stop with the stoppage of the playing, prophecies coming true almost daily (I do not boast in these; context and summary reveals that as opposed to being there experiencing them, I should be dead if it were up to me. Anything I speak I desire to be glory unto him, which is why I've chosen to be anonymous) However a miracle is arguably simply God intervening in a way that natural laws would never allow; names getting written in the book of life any way or how I suppose would count lol. I just really like being able to hear him tell me I'm delightful now and then :) Its good to have a proud dad :)
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