This week was a week of miracles. We met or exceeded almost all of our goals, for the first time in my mission. We taught 17 lessons and had three investigators at church. Hooray for Toad!
One of the highlights of our week was a lesson with a woman named Darlene. We just finished teaching her recently reactivated husband, Everet, a few weeks ago. We had dinner with them before the lesson and Sister Slade asked them what was left on their "bucket lists." Everet responded by saying, "Go to the temple!" and Darlene responded with, "be baptized!" We let her know that we could help her with that :). After dinner, we taught the Restoration and the Spirit was tangible during the entire lesson. It was awesome! She shared with us her tender testimony that Joseph Smith is a true prophet and that she knows that the Church is true. We invited her to be baptized and she said, "Absolutely yes! I would love to!" And when we suggested the date August 24th, she was so excited. "I can be baptized that soon!? I would love to!" It was just such a tender moment with the Spirit. We were all crying tears of joy. I am so excited for Darlene and Everet! She was one of our investigators at church yesterday (for the third time).
We also invited Chuck to baptized. He didn't respond to the invitation yes or no. When he is not sure about something, he just doesn't respond. But we heard from his wife, Sam, yesterday at Church that he told her following the lesson he almost said yes. I am grateful that he is contemplating participating in that sacred ordinance. He is making such strides. He still has a lot to learn and develop faith in, but he is progressing. He was also one of three at church yesterday.
Our last investigator at church yesterday was Tiffany. She had said that she would be at church during both of the lessons that we had with her this week, but she asked us to call her on Sunday to remind her and coordinate where to meet her before the meetings began. We called twice and had no answer and I don't think her voicemail has been changed from the last individual that had that number, so we weren't sure if we had gotten her or not--it was a man's voice. So, we decided to drive out to her house and knock on her door to invite her to join us. She was still in her nightgown, but she accepted and met us at the church about a half hour later. She really enjoyed it! And she wasn't afraid to ask questions during our Gospel Principles lesson and the members of the class all offered answers by the Spirit that she really identified with. Such a miracle! And the lesson in Relief Society was on Personal Revelation, which she had asked us about in our lesson with her on Friday. It was so perfectly catered to her. Afterwards, she said that she was even going to try to bring her husband next week. What just took the cake was that her husband's son attended church with the Zone Leaders again in the YSA ward.
Sandra told us this week that she is ready to try again. She admitted to us that she knew that Satan was working really hard on her and she didn't want to allow him to run her life. When we were talking, she said "when I get baptized..." not "if I get baptized." I know that the Lord will help her in this decision, but we will definitely have to make sure she realizes it.
I finally got to the book of Alma in my personal study this week. I was reading in chapter four this morning, and had a rather profound experience with verse 19 (Lari). At this time, Alma has just given up the judgment seat and is concentrating his efforts more fully on establishing and strengthening the Church. In verse 19, he explains that he saw "no way that he might reclaim them save it were in bearing down in pure testimony against them." My thought upon reading that was literally, "whoa." I know that it is true though. I know that the true teacher is the Spirit and the best way to invite and feel the Spirit is to testify of truth. I know that when I share my personal testimony and experiences, the Spirit is present much more powerfully than any other time. If you want to share the Gospel, share your testimony. Just before President Wilson went home, he added another book to our approved mission library. It is entitled, The Power of Everyday Missionaries and it was written by Clay Christensen with input from friends and members. It is a book for members on how to do missionary work. I am not very far into it, but you should all read it. It tells us HOW to do missionary work. We all want to but this book tells us how to do it in easy, nonthreatening ways and it is awesome.
Ok, quick funny story from Relief Society. We were talking about Revelation and one woman shared that the Spirit will always lead us down the path we need to go. She was explaining that in her life, the Lord had never allowed her to go too far on an incorrect path without stopping her and directing her otherwise. Then this funny old lady that cracks me up, piped up and said, "It like a GPS! (electronic voice) 'Recalculating.' Loved it.
Well, I love you all and hope it is another great week!
Sister Turley
PS--Recently the Church changed the policies on missionaries emailing people outside of our families. We got the go-ahead to email everyone! So, feel free to shoot me an email when you get the chance. My address is cherise.turley(at)myldsmail.net. However, our computer time is limited, so please send me a return address so I can get back to you via snail mail.
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