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| Love my "Sister's" |
1) Rebecca. Most of her children are already investigating the Church, but for some reason, she has been hiding in the background and has never really learned anything besides the restoration. She has terminal colon cancer because she cannot afford the cancer treatments... so some days are harder for her than others. But, she is the funniest 40 year old Haitian lady I have ever met. She is full of spunk and she will tell you exactly what she thinks. :)
Anyway, we had set up an appointment to teach her kids but the kids weren't there. But, everything worked out great (that's when you know that the Lord is behind it all). She was home alone during our appointment time and we ran an errand for her because she had to go to court today (long story). She finally told us her and the kid's background stories (everything finally made sense.. because everyone is related, but they live in different places). She broke down crying. She wants peace so badly and kept asking "Who is going to help me fix my family and help me pick up the pieces?" "How can I get rid of all of this guilt?" "I just want my kids safe and happy, but nobody will listen to me.." Surprisingly...just before the appointment, I had a strong impression that we had to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ and focus on repentance and faith, even though that wasn't the scheduled lesson. (ALWAYS LISTEN TO THE SPIRIT.... duh!) So after her talking and sharing, I said that we only had 10 minutes left and could we share something with her. She said yes, and I gave her a pamphlet. She read the things on repentance and totally FREAKED OUT. The Spirit hit her like a ton of bricks. Instead of us teaching her, she just sat in shock as she read the two pages about the repentance cycle and the need to acknowledge the Savior and how His atonement relieves guilt, changes lives and make the unfair things of life fair and can repair the things that we alone cannot repair. It was her first time probably feeling the Spirit because she started crying and didn't know what to do. "Why do I feel so funny?" "How did you know that I needed this?" "This is my answer!!!"
We talked about baptism and how it will help her and her family and she basically agreed to be baptized, but was so scared of everything. (We will still keep working with her, but by the end of this week, I know we can set her a baptismal date). She prayed before we left and it was also her first real "out loud" prayer and BOOM.... it was so good.
2) Marcus. He is a 16 year old friend of the kids we are teaching. We teach him over Facebook and he loves the gospel. I taught a super successful Facebook restoration lesson and he still felt the Spirit and accepted to be baptized. Now we just have to work with his family and further assess his situation. He is a great kid and we love working with him. Teaching over Facebook has brought so many blessings, especially when working with younger people.
3) Tony. Tony is "golden" and is the coolest guy around. He is super humble and loves the Church. He was born in England, was raised in Jamaica, and has lived all over the world. He has been busy working two retail jobs, and has had no time to sit still. But, he found a half day off and we introduced ourselves and taught the Plan of Salvation. BOOM. Such a good lesson. He basically struggles with what his purpose here on earth is. He said that he should be dead, and should have died a long time ago, and said that he would do anything that the Lord asked of him, but didn't know what that work was. I could tell that he wanted a specific answer and the Spirit prompted me to share D&C 121: 36-45 (basically the Priesthood Section with "Many are called but few are chosen"). I told him that the Lord needs a strong priesthood holder that would set an example, help serve others and to help build the Lord's Kingdom. (He is the kind of investigator that in a few years could be serving as an Elders Quorum President). The words we shared were just what he needed and we could tell that he was more at peace after we talked with him. Then, after answering his questions on repentance, he liked how our Church was more thorough on resolving sins than just confessing them. He also agreed to be baptized, and agreed to work on fixing his busy work schedule so he can continue to be taught.
4) CJ. CJ is the best! He is a young adult and suffers with a form of high functioning autism. He loves the Church and after 4 months of struggling with a lack of support from his parents, he has agreed to be baptized in May/June. We had a great lesson about the Plan of Salvation at a member's house. The member made probably the best hot cocoa ever!!
The only thing that kind of stunk all week was a lesson with a former investigator. He was a stubborn prideful guy who only wanted to argue and be contentious (not with our religion) with the idea of religion and God in general. He demanded proof and wanted us to convince him that God existed, that the Book of Mormon and other holy books are true, and something else that I can't remember now. Remarkably, we all remained calm, tried to figure out what exactly he wanted from us, we bore our testimonies and I actually just packed up my stuff and left. He then proceeded to tell us that we were weak, lazy, and ill-prepared and that he felt bad for us, and that we will never find the truth. I actually felt even worse for him because of the darkness and coldness in his house, his countenance and his life. We both felt proud that we did what we were supposed to do!! Bear testimony and leave.
Good things just keep happening and will continue to happen as we work hard and over come our fears. I just love the gospel. :) And I love the Spirit! It is like 'Night and Day' when it is present or not.
Also, I like the Utica Stake. We had a great Women's Conference on Saturday and it went great. We had lots of fun things to do and had great talks.
Transfers go way to fast, this week will be my half way mark again.
Love,
Sister Kylie Williams
