August 12, 2013

Dearest Family and Friends, 

On Thursday, we had a lesson with Ariah and her friend Jen was there.... I think they both needed the message that we shared on the Savior.  Jen hasn't been active for a while and she's making many poor decisions.  She felt the Spirit so strong that she started crying and said that she felt like she needed to start reading the scriptures again with her children.  I hope she does.  Later, Ariah confided that she has set the goal for herself to go through the temple in OCTOBER.  We were not expecting that... apparently her cousin is going on a mission and so they want to go to the temple together!  If she reaches her goal, I will get to go through with her!  (I will most likely be in this area for 4 transfers.)  

On Friday, we had a "Re-trainer's Meeting" in Calgary.  I got to see all of my MTC friends!  I missed them but it was so nice to see how much they've grown and no longer look like the scared "greenies"! The meeting was nice and my favorite part was learning about our purpose: which is to invite!  I think I took that message to heart....  Later that day, I decided that we were going to INVITE Karen to an 8 year-old's baptism and to church.  She declined both, but at least she knew we were thinking about her and it never hurts to invite!  

On Saturday, we went to the baptism and we didn't know why.  We didn't have an investigator and even though we thought that the non-member side of the family would be there, they didn’t come.  I started to think that maybe we should have done something else instead, but later two 16 year old girls came up to us and said "We really need to talk to you."  They had just gotten back from EFY and were very full of the Spirit (probably just like John was) and they wanted to know about missions, how to decide if they should go, why they should go, etc. etc. I think we did a very good job of addressing their concerns and I told them all the reasons why I love being a missionary, despite the hard times.  I think that is why we needed to be there.  Those girls really needed to talk to us!  

I felt like we really needed to visit Sister Feenstra (the less-active that we help with her yard) later that day.  She is having a hard time because it's been a year since her husband died.  We talked about the plan of salvation and she really felt the Spirit.  I wish she'd come to church.  Apparently there are several people in the ward that are "mean" to her, so she refuses to come.  They probably don't even realize that she feels that way, but she's convinced.  It's sad that she would give up all these blessings, because someone might give her a mean look.  

When we were walking to visit with a less-active, we met a young man (probably about 20) named Marcel, that we talked to.  I don't know if he was really interested, but he invited us to come back!  Later, I decided that we should INVITE him to church.  It was via text, but we were able to talk about what he would feel and experience if he came to church.  He said he would come!  Then we talked to another lady, Marilyn.  She was out gardening and after getting to know her, we mentioned the church.  She said, "Ahhhh yes.  My mom just joined that church."  We INVITED her to come to church and see what her mom does at church!  She asked what we did and we told her.  Then we asked if we could come back and talk to her more. "Uhhh, I'm sure you could."  So hopefully next time we stop by we will be able to talk to her more about her Mom's church and get her interested!  

Sunday we were very excited!  We got to do a presentation in ward council on "Hastening the Work" and getting the members involved.  It went really well!  I really felt the Spirit talking through me at one point and people were crying.  I hope that they took what we said and the challenges we gave them to heart.  We can't do this work alone!  

We were very excited for church because Gordon, Ariah, Marcel, Angela, and Dan all agreed to come to church.  My heart sank because as we sang the opening hymn, not a single one was there.  But slowly, Angela and Dan came. And Ariah. And Gordon!  It was wonderful.  Ariah really enjoyed being back at church and she participated in the lesson!  Both she and Gordon met with the bishop about going through the temple and getting the priesthood! So, everyone except Marcel came (whom we called later and he said he was sleeping... until 11:00?).  He invited us to come teach him this week though, so we won't give up on him.  But we will be having his lesson in a member's home.

Later we visited with Bro. Lah, and his daughter, Sister Phillips, and her husband.  They always uplift me for the next week.  All three are converts and they have the strongest testimonies of anyone I've met.  I guess it just gives me hope that maybe I could bring a convert like that into this church.

I know this church is true!  Pray for missionary opportunities.  The missionaries can't do it alone!

Love,

Sister Gardner