First, Zone Conference. Our entire zone met together and received instruction from our mission president on how we can improve as missionaries. That was pretty normal. But, this Zone Conference, we got Tiwi. What is Tiwi you ask? Well, it is a devise that they installed in all of the mission cars, and it's job is to monitor how safely we are driving. If you are speeding, Tiwi will tell you to slow down. If you are driving aggressively, Tiwi will tell you. It will even remind you to buckle your seat belt. Basically, if you are a bad driver you will be chastised by a computer. And, the results are sent back to the mission's vehicle coordinator at the end of every transfer. If any missionary does not have a good driving record, their driving privileges could potentially be suspended or revoked. I am personally grateful for Tiwi (of course, I am not the one driving) since it will make missionaries much safer drivers.
This week we also started to teach some pretty amazing people.
Dru:
Dru is a miracle. He is 16, and started coming to mutual and church with one of his friends. After his first time at mutual, he went up to the Bishop and asked him what he needed to do to be baptized. ?!?!!? Things like that never happen! Anyway, so the young men gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon on Sunday, and we had our first official lesson with him on Tuesday. We asked him if he had a chance to read any of it yet. "I finished it last night" ???!?!?!!!!! We thought he was kidding, but he was dead serious. He had read the entire thing in less than 24 hours. Did he understand most of it? Of course not, he was speed reading. But he has already started his second reading, this time going a little slower so he can absorb more of it. Dru is so prepared—he had an experience when he was younger that left him without any doubt that God is real and that he loves him—and he is hungry to know everything about the Gospel. But with any person who is so prepared for the Gospel, Satan really wants to put a stop to it. This weekend Dru had the flu really bad and had to go to the hospital, and so wasn't able to come to church AND his grandma, who has custody of him and who had originally said that he could take the lessons and get baptized, has changed her mind and says that she won't give her permission for him to get baptized. We are not yet sure what happened to change her mind, but it might be tricky to reverse the situation. Please keep him in your prayers, and pray that his grandma's heart will be softened.
Loetta:
Today is Loetta's 90th birthday. She is super sassy and funny and smokes like a chimney, AND is super excited to read the Book of Mormon and learn about the Gospel. She was supposed to come to church yesterday, but the poor thing was up all night and morning throwing up. But, when she recovers she wants to come and eventually get baptized (we haven't had a chance to tell her she has to quit smoking first, but we'll get around to that.) When we taught her about the Restoration of the Gospel and how there's a prophet on the earth today, she got super excited. We asked her how it would make her feel to know that these things were true, and she said "Jubilant!"
Today is Loetta's 90th birthday. She is super sassy and funny and smokes like a chimney, AND is super excited to read the Book of Mormon and learn about the Gospel. She was supposed to come to church yesterday, but the poor thing was up all night and morning throwing up. But, when she recovers she wants to come and eventually get baptized (we haven't had a chance to tell her she has to quit smoking first, but we'll get around to that.) When we taught her about the Restoration of the Gospel and how there's a prophet on the earth today, she got super excited. We asked her how it would make her feel to know that these things were true, and she said "Jubilant!"
Robert/Emily:
Robert is 9 and hasn't been baptized yet. His mom Emily is a less active member who moved into the ward a few months ago. Let me tell you the miracle story of how we met Emily. It was Tuesday night and we went on splits—Sister Alderman and Sister Hertig were teaching a lesson to a recent convert, and I went with a sister in the ward to go visit some members who had recently moved in (being in a trio has its perks—divide and conquer!) Anyway, we went out and knocked on four different people's houses, and not a single one was home or able to visit with us. I was feeling super discouraged, since we still had the whole evening left and only one more person on our list. So, we go to the last person, Emily. Funny enough, a couple from the ward was just leaving her apartment (turned out to be her home teachers who had come to meet her as well.) They left, and we came inside. She started talking to us and then suddenly broke down in tears. She then proceeded to tell us her whole life story, sharing with us some things that she said she had never told anyone before. There had been times in her life when she was living the Gospel and had been happy, but there were other times when she had made some poor choices that caused her a lot of suffering. The past few weeks she has been in the depths of despair, still depressed and suffering greatly. She told us that she had been praying the past few days for God's help, and then that night her home teachers and us both showed up at her door. Sometimes there are moments when we are permitted to see how much God has his hands in the details of our lives—this was one of those moments. All of the houses we had gone to first were meant to be empty, because Heavenly Father needed to use us to answer Emily's prayers. And he placed me, specifically me, there in her house to share with her some personal things that no one else could have, which she needed to hear. It is no coincidence the way things worked out that night. God has a master plan, and we are sometimes the angels he sends to people's aid. I did not feel at the time like I was being led anywhere. I did not feel the Spirit any more than usual. It was just a normal Tuesday night going out to visit people. And yet God was guiding us to be in a specific place at a specific time for a specific purpose. God often uses us as tools to bless the lives of others, and sometimes he allows us to witness the impact that we have. He is in charge—and we need to be obedient in order to allow Him to use us to accomplish His work.
I told Emily that this moment in her life is a moment in which God has allowed her to be very humbled. Now is the opportunity to turn back to him, to turn back to the Gospel, and to find the peace that only Christ and his Atonement can give. She wants to, and her son has been asking to get baptized, so now we are going to teach him, to both help him prepare for baptism and help her get back on the right path.
I told Emily that this moment in her life is a moment in which God has allowed her to be very humbled. Now is the opportunity to turn back to him, to turn back to the Gospel, and to find the peace that only Christ and his Atonement can give. She wants to, and her son has been asking to get baptized, so now we are going to teach him, to both help him prepare for baptism and help her get back on the right path.
Anyway, that has been my week. It has been quite something. There were many moments when I was reminded why I came out on a mission in the first place. God will always find ways to accomplish his work with or without us, but we are blessed enough to be given the opportunity to participate in that work. I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve Heavenly Father and to be involved in the work of salvation, and to see the miracles that come into people's lives through the Gospel.
Much Love,
Sister Daelemans
