A week full of miracles! We had transfers this week and guess what!!
Sister Hixon and I are staying together!! we defied the odds! 70 of
the 99 companionships in the mission got changed around this transfer,
so it was a big change for the mission. We are grateful to be able to
stay together though!! I get to keep my little squishy around for a
bit longer!!
The biggest miracle that we got to be apart of this week has been with
Liz. So remember last week how she low key dropped us and how we
weeped as we bore our testimony to her of the truthfulness of the Book
of Mormon and encouraged her to not give up. We met up for lunch last
Pday. She took us out to get barbecue and we assumed that was goodbye.
and then, later that day she texted us and said that she forgot to ask
if it was still possible for us to keep teaching her. We were, as you
can imagine, ecstatic. We freaked out and of course told her yes! We
had a lesson with her Wednesday (the day before transfers, just in
case (jic)) and she felt prompted on her drive home to reread a
chapter from the Book of Mormon. Ether 12. She read it and the verse
kept sticking out to her that says that God can do no miracle until
after the trial of our faith. She told us that she needed to have
faith. In which, we nodded. haha. She is so amazing. We are continuing
to teach her. She is still trying to strengthen her testimony of the
Book of Mormon and of Joseph Smith. We decided to take her to the
Liberty Jail on Saturday. As always, it was amazing. The Spirit was so
strong. Sister Christiansen, who took us through, followed the Spirit
so well and answered so many of the concerns that she had. We are
taking her to the Visitors Center on Tuesday to go through God's Plan.
We are so excited. I know that prayer is real. Sister Hixon and I
poured our hearts out in prayer for her.. that she would give this all
a second chance and that her faith would grow. It did.
I want to share another story that shows again the power that the Book
of Mormon has. We had our first lesson with cute Ken Barnes. He is
this old British man who has the cutest accent. He is so sincere and
has been reading the Book of Mormon for a couple of weeks now. He
knows his stuff. I swear he knows the Bible cover to cover. He attends
three churches each weekend currently and also attends a Bible Study
class on Revelations. He invited us to come over and we answered some
of his questions about some of our basic beliefs. One of the
questions, we weren't really sure what he was asking though. A
scripture came to my mind (2 Nephi 2:6-7). I wasn't really sure if
that would answer his question (because I wasn't really sure what his
question was) but we invited him to read it. He finished and said, (in
a British accent, don't forget) "Well, that answers my question
perfectly!" We were then able to share with him the message of the
Restoration. His wife is actually a less active member and had told
him to make cookies for us when we came over but he said no because he
didn't want to feed us if he didn't want us coming back (afraid we'd
come back for the cookies). He's hilarious. At the end of the lesson,
he invited us to come back next week and said that he would have
cookies for us because he would love for us to keep coming back. WE
PASSED THE TEST!!!!!
Yesterday, Nancy and Frankie (less actives) came to church finally!
Frankie didn't really want to come, but after walking out of young
mens after the third hour, he ran over to his mom and said, "Ok! We
have to come back next week! and we are coming to play basketball
Tuesday night!" Nancy was so happy. We are trying to start teaching
her family :) Again, power of the Book of Mormon. We have been going
over a couple times a week to read the Book of Mormon with their
family. I LOVE Nancy. She is hilarious!!
One other miracle of the week happened last night. 5 minutes before
our dinner, we got a call from a ward member who answered and said,
"Merry Christmas Sisters!!" He said that his home teaching family has
agreed to take the missionary lessons. The mom, who is a member, wants
to come back to church. She said she needed two of her sons to be
baptized and that her nonmember husband will sit in on lessons as
well. WHAT!! Miracles all around. We are so excited for our lesson
that we have with them Wednesday evening :)
and now, to the pictures!
} last pday at the crown center @ KC, KS
} with Barby :) one of our favorites. we helped her move her furniture
} and Liz, our miracle
I love you all so much!
