Last week we made it a goal to ask less actives and investigators for referrals. We prayed and prayed to know which less actives and which members to visit. We, admittedly, didn't recognize it then as an answer to our prayer when we later decided to see the Davis family, a family that converted four years ago and hadn't been to church in a long time. They asked how we were doing and I felt like I should elaborate on the progress of our investigators. Seeming to suddenly remember, Sister Davis said, "I got a text lat week from a friend of ours wanting to know what time our church started." We got her name, Jillian, and a rough description of where she lived and told them we would stop by her place.
Later that week, Thursday, we had a couple minutes before we had to meet our mission president's wife who was coming down to teach a lesson with us, and we both had the thought that we should go try to find Jillian. We pulled up and there was a woman standing outside apartment #6. We shared with her a restoration pamphlet and told her a little about our church. Her name was Penny. She was really nice and smiley, but I couldn't really tell if she was interested. As we were about to leave I remembered to ask, "Do you know where Jillian lives?"
"Yeah, she lives here," Penny responded.
We told her how we were friends of the Davis family and how they told us that Jillian had texted them asking when church started.
"Actually," Penny said, "that was me who wanted to know the church time. Jillian is my mother in law and was neighbors with the Davis family before we both moved."
We were ecstatic! We told her we could get her a ride with the Davis family and she said she would be ready and waiting for them.
We got back in the car and immediately texted the Davis family, who told us they would be in contact with Jillian and Penny.
Later that week we decided to stop by Cynthia. As usually happens with such visits, her twelve-year-old daughter Hana answered and said that her mother was busy. Usually, when that happens we ask if we can talk to her mother or when we could come back, but this time we asked if we could share a message with Hana. We had shared with her the message of the Restoration some months previous and she had read the introduction of the Book of Mormon. Her older siblings were baptized Mormon and her mom had attended church with them, but they had since stopped attending for many years. We talked with her about the Book of Mormon and invited her to church. "My mom will be working, but I can go," she told us.
Fast forward to Saturday night. We still hadn't found anyone to take Hana to church. We tried calling five people and no one answered, except for Sister Judd who would be going to church early and we didn't think Hana would be ready by then. I thought of calling the Bryant's, but their phone usually doesn't work and they are really hard to get a hold of.
Sunday morning we still didn't have a ride for Hana. "Let's try the Bryant's," Sister Farias said. We called her and she told us she had to pick up one other person at some other apartments near us so we told her we would meet her there.
She called us while we were in the Spanish branch to tell us that the other person she had to pick up couldn't come so she wasn't sure where to meet us, but we didnt get the message until we were already at the apartments. Unable to find Sister Bryant's car, we pulled around to park by the playground and saw that Penny's husband was outside. As soon as we pulled up he went in and then Penny came out and began walking toward our car. "Oh good, I'm so glad you came," she said as she climbed in. (We later learned the Davis's had not in fact been in contact with her, but that she was still expecting the ride from them. We were glad we had come!)
We aren't supposed to drive investigators, but we weren't about to say no either.
We then drove over to pick up Hana. She wasnt home, but her little brother asked if he could come. So we broke some rules bringing them both to church, but I think God can forgive us for that.
It's amazing to me to think of how everything had to line up for Penny to get to church. We were impressed to see the Davis's just after she had texted them. We were impressed to go find her on a day that she was standing outside her apartment. And then Hana's wanting to come to church caused us to need to call a member to pick her up and the fact that we had called the Bryant's, who would be picking someone up from the same apartment complex as Penny's . . . The Lord is truly guiding this work.
Penny loved church. She told us in Gospel Principles that she had been a meth addict and wanted to turn her life around when she had her two little girls. She has been clean for 2 years. One of the speakers got up and told us he felt prompted to change his message. He told us a story of a convert he worked with who had gotten drunk at age 15, woke up on the floor of his friend's house with a hangover and decided there must be more to life and he wanted to find out what. Just then he saw a Book of Mormon on his friend's shelf. Some missionaries had given it to his friend's mom years back and she had politely taken it but never read it. He said the moment he opened it he felt a power and a sweet peace that told him he had found his answer. He read it all that morning, quit drinking, and was baptized a month later.
Penny told us the message was for her, which is neat because another investigator we had brought, Marry, said that the message in Sacrament meeting about the Book of Mormon was also just for her, but they had both gotten something different from the message. I am so thankful for the spirit and the personalized revelation we can receive.
This past week my companion and I had been praying that we would be lead to the prepared and that they would be lead to us. With Penny, the Lord accomplished both.
SHE asked US to teach her, and I am excited to begin teaching her this Tuesday.
I know the Book of Mormon is true and I am so grateful for it's influence in my life. I have learned more about the life and influence of my Savior, Jesus Christ, experienced more joy, more peace, and encountered in it's pages the answers to my most pressing questions. If you haven't read it ever, read it. If you haven't read it today, pick it up. If you don't have a copy, that's okay! It's online :) (LDS.org)
Crotcheting with Linda
P-day naps at our ward mission leader's house
Taking part in all the strange stuff you see walking around "downtown" Willcox
Gumbo (because Hermana Farias has never had it before) after our shift
at the museum.
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