Family. This week has
been a week of miracles. I wish I could tell you about each one but I
will probably only have time to write about a few.
First of all, transfers were this weekends and.... I AM STAYING IN RIVERHEAD! and I
am so excited to be staying. It feels like everything we started
working on as soon as I got here are starting to come together and I am
happy to be here to make sure things keep moving forward.
Who knows... maybe I'll never leave. I think I would be okay with that... Haha. :D
It makes me so
happy that you get to talk to all these people I love. They take such
good care of us and its special that you guys get to be a part of that
too. Just to illustrate this point. We went to the Blom's for dinner on Saturday
which just happened to be Sister Peacock's Mom's birthday. She wanted
to make sure that she had a special day and had asked the Bloms to help
her send a recording of her singing home to her mom. Well they went a
step further (as usual) and we walked into a full on Birthday Party for
her mom with Sister Peacock as her Proxy in true mormon fashion. It was
so awesome! and so sweet.
As for the miracles. It will be a lot easier to let you read them from my president's letter:
I mostly just want to talk about Miracles this week. We has SOOOO many. I wish I could just copy and paste from my journal because I counted 21 in just one day! It all started on Thursday night. Right before bed we got a text from a contact we made on the street about a week earlier. We had called her, and even had an appointment with her but she never sent us her address so we were never able to see her. Her name is Sonja. She texted us and told us about her crazy week and then told us that her Father had passed away the night before. She was searching for comfort. She asked us to please call and talk to her, come visit her, something! She just wanted to hear the words of God. So we texted her back and told her we could see her tomorrow. She said okay. We went to bed so happy. My heart was breaking for her and the pain that she must have been feeling but I was happy that she had remembered how she felt when she talked to us and was turning back to that in this moment of crisis.
Then on Friday morning we texted one of our good friends in the ward and told them "Today is already a day of Miracles! Have a great day at work!" That text turned out to be more of a prophecy.
In the middle of studies we got a call from a less active to go visit her. It was amazing that she called us but even more amazing what was it set up for us. We went and taught her and then immediately after went to look up some people on our list. This name in particular came from a Mormon.org request for missionaries. There was no record as to whether or not those missionaries had ever gone or when the request was made so we went. At first she was a little stand-offish. She new exactly who we were and didn't seem like she wanted to talk to us. But all it took was one simple question and then her doors (both figuratively and literally) were wide open. We asked her how she knew so much about mormons and why she had requested missionaries. She told us she is a member! and that she had asked for a blessing. She then invited us in and told us her story. All her Children are catholic and freak out any time she starts talking to mormons again but they weren't home. We were able to talk to her about a lot of things and let her know that we needed her back in the Branch. She told us there are still times that she just drives by the church to think and regain peace. Its a miracle that we were able to meet her under those perfect conditions and we'll get her records in this branch where they belong.
Throughout the day we experienced miracles like this. Right place, right time, and we felt 100% guided by the spirit. We were able to talk to several LA's and investigators in settings so different from the norm that we saw whole new sides of them. Even our short excursion to the store to do some special prep for a lesson led to a miraculous encounter with Dack. He is always so happy to see us and gave us some information for a Basketball BBQ on Thursday that he wants us to invite people to and then invited us to be there to talk to people.
Finally, our last stop for the night was to drop by and see Elizabeth, the polish sister who is married to a Muslim which led to us dropping her. We sat down and the house was quieter than its ever been. As we talked we asked her if she was still reading and she said that she was almost through with Alma. When we dropped her she was still in 1st Nephi. She has been reading and praying everyday. We asked her what she has learned and... WOW! She has grown SO much. She gave us a pretty good summary but then began talking (bearing testimony really) of how much she has learned and grown and even felt the spirit because she continues to read and pray. About this time I was thinking "Man, we are going to have to seriously consider starting to teach this woman again... wait? why do I need to wait? the Lord can tell us if that is a good idea right now." So I waited and listened and still that feeling persisted. So I looked at Sister Peacock and we did the whole visual confirmation that we were both thinking the same thing. So we asked her if she had thought anymore about baptism and she said she still wanted to get Baptized, and then we asked if we could begin teaching her again. She was so happy. We then asked her to say a prayer before we left. She didn't even hesitate. I almost cried multiple times during this prayer as I listened to this woman that we love say a beautiful, sincere, heartfelt prayer. Before this time all her prayers have basically been the Lord's prayer modified to our format. When she was done I'm sure me and sister Peacock just looked at her with wide eyes and open mouths. She just smiled at us and said "I'm getting better huh?" and she is!
We taught her last night and it was amazing. She now asks questions, sits closer to us to hear better, responds with thought out answers, and before saying she'll keep commitments she makes sure she understands them and even asks for more time to read and pray and study before she promises. Its a night and day difference. I know we still have a long way to go and a lot of preparation to make sure that she is Real Growth but I am just so pleased to be here for one more transfer to see her progress even more. Who knows? maybe even enter the waters of baptism.
The miracles haven't stopped either. We've decided to start and area history to leave in the car of all these miracles so that the people who one day replace us will be able to see from the beginning that the Lord is here in Riverhead, NY directing his work. This land is a land of miracles.
-Sister Hale
On
a side note we were able to see Sonja yesterday too and talked to her
about the Plan of Salvation, the spirit world and Resurrection. She left
with peace in her heart. I could see her burdens being lifted as she
came to understand where her Father was at right that moment and that he
would live again. I gave her Elder Worthlin's talk from years ago
titled "Sunday will Come." Its brought me so much peace and I hope it will do the same for her.
I love you all so much!
Love,
Sister Maren Hale
P.S.
Mom, I don't know when you will see this but if you haven't seen sister
Stenquist yet and have time I could really use a new Modbe (the ones
the sell as costco) Undershirt (spaghetti strap). Mine have just about
had it. But if not... maybe for christmas...? Haha. I love you! Thanks
for everything!
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