Testimonies, Spirit of Elijah
We had our last District Council meeting before Transfers. It seems I just get used to the missionaries in our group, grow to love them, then they get transferred! It's the nature of a missionary - always ready to go where asked. It has become tradition for us to take our District (6 missionaries and us) to lunch at In 'n Out burger for lunch.
I think most of you probably know that Stan is pretty competitive when it comes to driving. So when the three sets of Elders got out of the Church parking lot before us, the race was on. (It's really not much of a race considering that all the missionaries have a TIWI in their cars keeping them within a few miles of the speed limit!) So we get to the In 'n Out parking lot and Stan notices that the Elders are just arriving. So he jumped out of the car and hit the lock button on the door, but it wouldn't lock. He tried again - no locking! He asked me if my keys were in the car - they were not. So he started walking away and said we'd just leave the car unlocked. Well, it bugged me that the car wouldn't lock. So I opened the passenger door, and realized at that moment that the car was still running! Stan had jumped out of the car so fast that he didn't think to turn off the engine! I hollered at him and he came back and turned the car off! We laughed all the way to the restaurant!
While most all of you were either in an ice storm or severe winter temperatures last week, we were outside grilling Teriyaki chicken for our Institute dinner. We had grilled teriyaki chicken burgers with grilled fresh pineapple; it was delicious! Just so you know - we were praying for your safety and well being and hoped you were keeping warm!
I had a chance to bear my testimony on Friday morning. We went to pickle ball - and after awhile, I finished a game and everyone I was playing with went to a different court to play, so I decided to go for a walk with the time I had left before going home. I was nearly back to the car after I had finished my route. I decided to go on down the hill so I had to come back up to the car so I could get a little more exercise. I was going to cross the street so I would be on the same side as the car, but then I decided to stay on the shady side instead. As I walked down the hill, I saw a man working on his car. As I approached him, I stopped and said "Hi". Normally I would say "Hi" and keep walking, but this time I stopped. He stopped his work and starting talking to me. He told me that he had had a stroke a while back and is still trying to get his brain to think normally. He told me his wife worked and he has four kids. He mentioned the love of God and Jesus Christ in his life. I told him I was a missionary for the Church, and that I would love to meet with his family to share a message of Jesus Christ. I had a pass a long card with me, so I gave it to him. It had a picture of Christ appearing to the Nephites. I told him briefly about Christ coming to America to teach the people here after his resurrection. I bore my testimony that Christ loves him and is aware of his family. I invited him to call us to set up a time to share a message. I don't know if we'll ever hear from him, but it was a good experience for me to share a few moments with him.
We had a rewarding experience Friday evening. We met with one of our newly baptized young adults, Eric. We've been trying to get together with him for a while to help him set up his Family Search account and begin adding his family to create his Family Tree. After his baptism, we gave him a "My Family" booklet that allows him to write in names and memories of his parents, grandparents, etc. Last week he sat down with his Mom and his 100 year old Grandma, and got quite a bit filled out. He said his Grandma even gave him a book that has a lot of names of his ancestors. As he was typing in the names of his family, he was getting more and more excited. He said this could be his new hobby! You should have seen his face when he put in a great grandparent and Family Search populated his Tree and added several more generations. As we looked closer, some even had their temple work done! We are thinking that Eric may have cousins that are members of the Church. He was thrilled. We have a date to perform baptisms at the temple in March. He is so excited. It was definitely one of the most rewarding experiences we've had on our mission.
We invited Jay, a newly baptized member, over for dinner last night. We've been a little bit worried about him, because he's missed Church several times. He is from Haiti, and we wonder if there is a communication issue, and maybe he doesn't understand as much as we might think. We were looking forward to spending some time getting to know him better. I made salmon, roasted potatoes, and a salad for dinner. Dinner time came and went. Stan texted him and called and left a message. We finally ate dinner without him. He called a bit later, and explained that he had been called in to work. We'll try again another time.
We decided that there was too much food for us, so we called the sisters that live across the parking lot and invited them over to get some food. They are a fun threesome; one from Alabama, one from Japan, and a third (just arrived in the mission Friday) from Tonga. They are definitely a multi-cultural companionship.
Tonight we held our second Mission Prep class. Last week we had nine youth come. Today we nearly doubled our numbers - we had 17! We were pretty excited as they kept on coming. One of the young men told us that he graduated from high school last week. I asked him what he was going to do with his time now. He said he's preparing to serve a mission. Loved his answer!
We certainly do love this work that we are about - the Lord's work! We are truly blessed. Thank you all for your love and support.
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