From 2/9/15
Hola Family and Friends!
Another week has gone by so fast. We've met many wonderful new people and families to teach. There have been so many happy moments this week, yesterday being one of the greatest.
I have a secret also: I think that Hermana C and I might be together for another six weeks in this area!!!!! It's still a secret, but do you know what that might possibly mean? If so, I will have been in this area for about 8 months and Hermana C for 6!
I love it here so much, and I most especially love my companion too!!! Hermana C is the BEST!!! She is super patient with me, because I can be a little crazy sometimes. haha. We have so much fun doing nothing sometimes. She really does feel like a sister to me! I feel like we teach fluidly together. I learn a lot from her each day! It's so true that when you work well together in your companionship, your best efforts will always bring some kind of success. While on the other hand, until there is harmony in a companionship, no amount of effort will ever bring true success. We have been so blessed to see miracles and progression in this area. We are excited to see what lies ahead!
One evening I overheard the sisters in our home talk about their goal for receiving references the following day. (A missionary reference is given to a companionship in a specific area with the information of an individual who is interested in hearing more about the church.) We receive references most commonly through asking individuals in the street or through members--most often we receive 1-2 a day. But what stood out to me is that they set a high goal for the following day of how many referrals received.
The next morning, we went to a meeting on the other side of town and talked to as many people as we could along the way. We met a man who introduced himself to us first. He asked us more about the church and asked if we could come by to teach him. We took down his information--he lived in the upper part of our area--the area of the other sister missionaries. On the bus to our meeting and back we met three more individuals who accepted to hear a message of the gospel who live in the upper part of our area--altogether four references for the sisters.
As we walked down the street to our next appointment, I had a thought come to my mind. When we make higher expectations for ourselves and ask the Lord for help, He will help us to reach those goals or surpass them. I had another thought come to my mind next. Sometimes, we can be the answer to someone else's prayer. At the end of the night, Hermana C and I were also given many references, above the personal goal we had set, with faith. It is a lesson to me of how our vision and goals can help us to do something more and be a better person.
Along those lines, we met some super duper cool fellows this week as we contacted. We left pretty early one morning for an appointment and passed by a man ["C"] with crutches on the way. "I should talk to him", I thought as we passed him by.
I didn't stop to talk to him. We went on to our appointment. No one came out as we knocked on the door and waited for a few more minutes. Then we see this man pass us by again. Okay, THIS time we are talking to him!! We went up to an older man with big blue eyes and introduced ourselves to him.
"Oh, you are the Mormons! I went to your church in Los Angeles over 40 years ago! I really liked it, there is something different about it!"
We invited him to church.
"I'll be there this Sunday".
We've seen over and over again, to listen to the Spirit and do what he says. Be wiser than I was--never postpone a prompting! This man was too cool not to contact but we almost didn't!
We went to another first appointment with a young woman and her little sister on Saturday. "Aa" opened the door and let us in. Her siblings were eating breakfast and her parents were doing various things around the home. All movement stopped as soon as we walked in!!! We were warmly greeted by everyone. The mom came out to meet us and invited us to sit down. The dad came out also and took initiative to speak with us and learn who we were, where we came from, and why we were there. The kids trickled out of the dining room one by one and found a place to sit down in the living room and listen.
I felt like we were in a dream or something!! It was so cool to see the parents leading by their example to hearing the gospel, and each child listening attentively too. We asked to say an opening prayer and felt impressed to teach the message of the Restoration. Everyone participated and asked and answered questions. We shared the first vision of Joseph Smith, and a sweet spirit was there in their home. We asked them how they felt about this experience. Without missing a beat, the dad said, "The experience Joseph had meant that he was chosen to do this work. He was called to be prophet."
We invited them to pray about the truthfulness of our message and to be baptized if they receive an answer- they all accepted. We also handed them a Book of Mormon. The family said that they had one already. They went into one of their bedrooms and brought out two copies. They committed to reading and praying and we knelt together in their home to end our lesson.
IT WAS SO SUPER COOL! AHH. We passed by the next morning to go with them to church. Aa answered the door in her pajamas. She said, "I was just about to get into the shower so we could go. My parents can't go because they went to take care of an emergency, but that doesn't mean we can't go!"
All four of the siblings came to church yesterday and so did C!!
Our modest house of prayer was completely filled yesterday!! There were so many youth!! There was an actual Young men's class, the primary was full, relief society...everything! Many less actives came yesterday, and so did our investigators. The talks and lessons were very inspired and uplifting. It was probably one of the best Sundays I've had on my mission because of the warmth we felt in church. We've been working so hard so almost 6 months now to see that kind of growth in church. It felt so wonderful. The family that came with us was super content. C was accompanied home by Ao!!! :) We were just so happy!
The work goes on! We do the best we can and the Lord does His part to make it complete! I hope you all keep looking for the blessings big and small every day. I know that Heavenly Father loves us so much! So so much. Hope you all have a great week.
Con Amor,
Hermana Fernelius
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