Working as Missionaries Do

May 5, 2014

            Okay I have a confession.  I haven't wanted to write the past couple of weeks because they have been a bit stressful, but everything has basically worked out.  Well the exciting highlights of the past couple of week are as follows:

            We saw Elder L. Tom Perry.  It was so cool.  We felt such a power as he walked into the room.  We all had the privilege of shaking his hand. Now I have shaken hands with an Apostle of the Lord!  He also asked me where I was from, and of course I said I was from Richmond.  He replied, "Oh, Black and White days."   His wife also told me that they were related to the Datons from my ward.  It was a pretty neat experience and his talk afterwards really inspired me to know the scriptures. 

            We were also able to get in touch with a recent convert who has not had any contact with the church since she was baptized in September and we were able to get in with one of the members.  The most incredible miracle is that she still has a strong testimony of the church and she hasn't been letting anyone in because her son has been house-bound for four months because he has so many medical issues and the doctors haven't been able to exactly discover what is wrong.  He is five and has already had three surgeries, one of which was to get his sinuses removed.  But his mom has so much optimism and trust that God will see her through.

            We also were able to meet with the Bucaballs who are Philippine couple that are less-active because they work crazy work schedules because they are saving up for a mission.  We asked them to pray about it and they came to church, which was such an amazing experience for us to see that many people just need to be invited to partake of the gospel and they will come.

            A new ward mission leader!!!! So we are saying goodbye this week to our ward mission leader, Brother Chavez who is moving to Oregon in the summer and then to Ecuador in the fall.  But our new ward mission lead is Brother Koeling who has been a convert about 10 years.  He was baptized in college and then went on his mission to Florida.  He is super cool and actually has a job in the entertainment business.  He loves member missionary work and was baptized because his friend introduced him to the church.

            Last piece........ We have a baptism on May 18th.  Her name is Katie Diaz she is 8 years old and her grandma is a returning member.  She is super excited to be baptized and reads in the children's Book of Mormon 30 min every day.  When we were watching the Joseph Smith movie and during the part when he saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ Katie told us that she really liked this part and it made her feel super good.  She feels the spirit so strongly.  She is super- prepared to be baptized.

Have a Super Week,

From the Sister in Jersey