Dear Family and Friends,
I have neglected to share with you a number of things over the past few weeks. I feel like every Monday has been crazy and we have been rushed to get in and out of the library. So this might be a bit of a catch-up letter and it may take a lot of explaining about why we are excited about different things, so here goes...
We got bikes this week!...So, we are splitting our ward with a set of Elders. We are assigned to work in the south half of the ward. The good news is that we are in our new apartment! The bad news is that it is on the very north border of the ward. Literally, if we cross the street we are out of our area. We have 600 miles a month to use on our car so that gives us about 20 miles a day. And with travel from our apartment to our area on the south end of the ward, we use about 16 miles daily. So that gives us 4 miles to use for proselyting. And our area is all culs de sac and there is only one way in and out of most places. We had hoped to get more miles, but our mission's mileage budget from Salt Lake has been cut, so that was out. So, we got bikes! Who knew that I would ever be so excited to ride a bike in a dress?? We are grateful to have them so we can visit more people in our area and not be confined to one section. I love helmet hair.
We had an investigator attend church this week! Her name is Lavina and she is Catholic and originally from Texas. She is married to a man from India whom she classifies as a "non-believer." I don't remember what I shared in the past, but a few weeks ago we tracted into Lavina and she invited us into her home. She informed us as we were leaving that she had never invited Mormons into her home, but as soon as she saw us, she felt the Spirit and invited us in. President Bonham has chosen our building and the Everett Stake Center to be guinea pigs in hosting church tours, so we will be doing some trial runs in the next few weeks. We got invitations to the Church tour on Wednesday, and we went around to our investigators and took them plates of cookies (our WMLs philosophy is "cookies work.") with the invitations. We did not get a firm response from any of our investigators about going, so we didn't really expect anyone to show up. But we had a miracle! On Saturday afternoon, we drove our car out to the Church to park and then ride our bikes out to our area. We went in to the Church for a few minutes to write down addresses to people we planned to visit and as we were getting up to leave, Lavina walked in! We were able to give her a tour and an explanation of the services and what would happen during the meetings. She told us at the end of the tour how grateful she was to have come to the tour and know a little bit better what to expect so she would not be as overwhelmed during the meetings on Sunday. She attended church with us yesterday and really enjoyed it. Her favorite class was Sunday School and she participated freely. We are grateful that the Elders were able to give such a wonderful lesson! We meet with Lavina again on Thursday morning and are excited to be able to teach her the full Restoration lesson. The tour brought up a lot of questions about the Restoration that we are excited to address!
We also have a new investigator, Nahal. She is from Iran and consequently, Muslim. She informed us that she has never practiced or believed in Islam. She said that they just lived that way growing up in Iran because it was a requirement. Her husband shared that he is not really interested in religion, even his own. We hope that this will change in the future. They also have a nine year old son. Nahal has a very interesting story. I guess was struggling at one point and really needed help. She started experimenting by praying to different gods and in different ways. And when she started praying to God in the name of Jesus Christ, she felt something different and that it was good. And shortly after that, she had experienced a miracle that was a strength to her. It has given her a very different view on Jesus Christ that is held by most Muslims. It is pretty amazing how well prepared she is to receive the Gospel. She had received a Book of Mormon in Farsi in the past, but unfortunately, the translation has never been finished (It probably was not top priority because we have to get special permission to teach individuals who are Muslim). But her mother is staying with her for a few months from Iran and picked it up and is really enjoying it! It is also wonderful that she already has a number of member fellowshippers (she was a member referral! yay!) in the ward that are excited to sit with her at church and attend lessons with us! We are hoping that her husband will be able to attend church with her in the future. I have heard that he really appreciates the social aspect of the church because they do not know very many people in the United States. Maybe the social conversion will lead to doctrinal conversion.
Yesterday I was reading in Alma chapter 39 (Lari), and had some very interesting ideas come to mind. In verse 16, Alma is describing to his son, Corianton, the work to which he had been called as a missionary. He explains, "And now, my son, this was the ministry unto which ye were called, to declare these glad tidings unto this people..." I thought about the other instances in which the phrase "glad tidings" was used in the scriptures and it is almost always with angels. We often use refer to the verse in Alma 13:24 which asserts that angels are preparing the people in the land to receive the Gospel. And if our call is the same as the errand of angels, then I think very easily that missionaries past and present may be the angels that are preparing the people. We often hear of "angels among us," and they are often described as ordinary people doing an extraordinary work. I do no think that this rules out the reality of having true angels sent from the presence of God to help with the work, but it helped me to have even a different outlook on missionary work. Missionary work is a combined effort between the many different kind of angels, both seen and unseen, resurrected and mortal and spirit. And I would suggest that it takes the efforts of all to be successful.
Do you remember Bennett and Verna from Oak Harbor? Well, they are getting baptized! Tracting miracles. Sister Slade says that they are quote: "SO SOLID." And it gets better! Verna asked Everet (the less active we taught and whose wife, Darlene, got baptized) to baptize her! I don't know if I could be any more excited! I am praying hard to be able to attend the baptism. We can go if it is within 6 weeks of us being transferred from the area and it will be 7 when they get baptized on October 12th (Happy Birthday to Griffin and happy "Rebirth" day to Bennett and Verna!). President said to ask for permission again when it gets closer and he may feel inspired to say yes. But there is another church tour that day, so we will see what happens. I am so excited for them!!!!!!!
Well, I love you all lots and hope that you have a wonderful week!
Love,
Sister Turley
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