Let It Snow

2/10/14

 

Hola familia!

 

How are y'all doing?

 

You'll never guess what happened this week! IT SNOWED!! Of course it all melted by mid morning but still! It made me sooo happy! When I woke up I took a peek out the window and could see all this white stuff on the roof tops and it was snow!!

It was awesome!

 

Things have been crazy! I''ve been going on exchanges at least once a week if not twice. Sometimes it gets really stressful but it's such a priviledge to be able to work with these amazing sister missionaries! They teach me so much!

This week I went on exchanges to Fairfield and they are on bike and it was a blast! I would love to be in a bike area because you're free to talk to everyone you pass! It's the best!

I saw a great miracle while I was on exchanges this week. So back in March/ April of 2013 when I was still in White Oak, you probably won't remember this, but we were working with the Westbrook family. The mother was less active and the husband not a member. Her daughter was 8 about to turn 9 and we had talked to her mom about teaching her daughter the discussions and getting her baptized. They even ended up coming to church that week.

Then we weren't able to meet with them much after that. They were planning on moving and they got really busy so we didn't see much progress with them. Then the shock of my life... I got transferred. It has almost been a year since I last saw them.

Well on exchanges we went to this families house for dinner and as soon as I saw the mother I knew it was Sister Westbrook. They had moved into the Fairfield ward! It gets even better! She has been fully reactivated and has gone through the temple for the first time. The sisters taught her daughter the discussions and she got baptized! Sister Westbrook told me evenything that's happened since I saw her and there have been so many miracles. Now there is no way you could pull her away from the church. She loves it more than anything. It made me want to cry to see how far that family has come. It was a tender mercy from the Lord to be able to see them again. The neat thing too is that we weren't going to even be seeing them that day but our dinner cancelled on us and sister westbrook offered to feed us. It was meant to be.

 

We were able to see Dorisette this week! She's doing great! We had such a wonderful discussion with her about how the key to knowing if this church is true is the Book Of Mormon. She has such a great sincere desire to know if it's true. She wants to be sure that she is in the church that will put her on the straightest path back to God. She wants to be with him again so badly. She bore her testimony of her love for God and it brought tears to my eyes. I love this woman so much and I have learned a lot from her. She reads the Book of Mormon and prays about it so faithfully. I hope and pray that she will receive and answer and that she will be able to recognize it.

 

Kaylee was not able to come to church this week which was a bummer but she is doing so well! Like I told you last time we've been teaching her the standards in the "For Strength of Youth." We talked about "Media and Entertainment" and she shared a wonderful experience with us. Recently her cousin took her out to a movie and it turned out that the movie was pretty bad. She told her cousin that if she wants to take her to movies they need to go see a good clean one or she won't be going with her anymore. She stood up for what she's come to believe in! I was so proud of her. She was willing to tell her cousin her standards and stand in a holy place. There are members out there who don't even do that much. She is such a wonderful example to me.

 

Rosa is doing great! We haven't seen Velma in a while but we're going to see her tomorrow.

 

We had another miracle this Sunday.

But to preface it I have to tell you about Friday night. We had put together this activity that was to be held at our ward mission leaders house. It was supposed to be a non-threatening gathering that members could bring their friends to. The ward mission leaders wife made scones and we were going to watch the new Bible videos on lds.org. They sent out announcements for it far in advance and we brought it up in ward counsel a couple weeks ago with the expectation that all members of the ward counsel would come. We invited our investigators and less-actives and the one and only recent convert in our ward.

Well the only people that came was us, the Bishop, and the recent convert. That was it. It was so dissapointing. No members came. The recent convert was asking why no one came and it was hard to know how to answer his question.

Luckily Sister Williams makes the best scones in the world.

Well in ward counsel the Bishop and Ward mission leader sort of called the ward counsel to repentance in a very powerful and loving way. Bishop talked about how it's our (the missionaries) job to teach and their (the ward members) responsability to find. He told them that as a ward they should be filling up our planner with appointments. Brother Williams told the ward counsel the statistics of converts who are brought into the church through members as opposed to being found by the missionaries and when brought through a member the percentage is much higher. Tears filled the bishops eyes as he pled with the ward cousel to rise up and fulfill their duty as members of the church and members of the ward cousel. It was very powerful.

It has been amazing to see the change in perspective of missionary work that this ward has had. When I first got here I felt like we were in this work alone without the support of our ward. Now I have felt a complete shift. The Lord has worked miracles in this ward like I never seen. Good things are coming! I can feel it.

 

I love being a missionary so much. It is the greatest thing. It makes me sad when I think that I'll soon hit my year mark. If I could I would totally be happy just being a full-time missionary with a badge forever. It has gone by all too fast. I feel so blessed to have this opportunity. Texas has become my home away from home and part of my heart will always be here.

 

I love you all so much! Thank you again for your prayers. I couldn't do this without you!

 

The Kingdom of God or Nothing!

 

Love Sister Gregson