Elder Tuttle
As a missionary I have found myself
in the right place at the right time on many different occasions. One of these
experiences happened with The S Family.
My companion and I opened up the ward list and we prayed to know which
families we should visit and teach. So we flipped through the pages and we both
felt strongly that we should go visit the S family. We went over and asked
if we could teach them the missionary lessons, and after they had received them
all, then they would invite someone else (a friend or neighbor) to listen to
the same lessons with them. Their answer to our invitation shocked us. Brother
S said, “I don’t think we need to do all of that, our grand-daughter M isn’t a member of the church yet, you can just teach her.” So that’s what we
did. We taught M with her family. She was 11 years old, so we
taught simply to her and her family was able to re-learn the basic doctrines of
the gospel that they had not been living for years. So time went on and M was baptized, the rest of the family became re-activated and very involved with
the church. The coolest part about this story for me was what happened a few
weeks later. Sister S was talking to us in a lesson, and she stopped… she
began to cry and she told us that we had no idea how vital it was to their
family, that we came when we did. Sister S told us that their family had
been going through some very difficult times. And because we came, and were
doing what we were supposed to do, we were able to bring the light of the
gospel into their home again. We were able to let them feel the warmth and
happiness that comes into the home and family when we are doing what God asks
of us. I know that God puts his hand in His work. It is hard to see sometimes,
but if we look hard enough, have enough faith and continue to do our part he
will use as His hands to help his children.
Elder Van Dam
The story that I want to share is
about persevering. This is a difficult talent/ trait to develop and takes a lot
of time and patience. As it is well known that many times as missionaries we
have times where teaching and finding people to teach becomes difficult and
mundane but we have to trust in the Lord and know that he gives us challenges
for a reason. I learned in one of my transfers at the beginning of my mission
about the blessings of persevering and trusting in the Lord. I was transferred
into the area and met my new companion and one of the first things he had said
to me was “Elder we are going to baptize this transfer.” I did not doubt but I
had good reason to because to the fact that we did not have any investigators.
That afternoon of my first day we went out tracting to get to know the area and
because we didn’t have any appointments to be to either. None the less we were
determined to do the Lord’s work. After about 3 weeks of working, mostly filled
with finding activities we were still where we had started and the knowledge of
the places where people were not interested in learning about the gospel. One
weekly planning we had noticed this and decided to do some praying and asked
the Lord why this was and his answer to us was be patient. Not more than a week
had passed when we were walking down a street doing our usual tracting when we
walked by an apartment building and a man was outside sitting on the stairs
going up to the second floor and we decided to go and talk to him in a matter
of seconds we knew that he was not interested and we gave him a card to call
for free Book of Mormon. Then just before we were walking away a man from the
second story called to us and asked if we were Mormon missionaries. A little
taken back and pessimistic about his inquiry we replied “yes we are.” He
introduced himself as Joseph, and from there it was just great, we told him
that we knew someone who was very important named Joseph and we would like to
tell him more about this story. He accepted and invited us back. He was then
baptized 3 weeks later and has a great desire to continue to learn and grow in
the gospel. I know that this was a miracle given to us missionaries because of
the fact that we had been committed to the work that we knew we had to do along
with trusting in the Lord that he would bless us, both of which are included in
perseverance. Times can be rough but with the Lord everything will be for our
benefit.
Elder Groves
Well my
story is one personal to me and it’s definitely about following the promptings
of the spirit. This was in my 2nd area which was in Downtown LA. We
started out that afternoon with a lot and a lot of tracting. All our
appointments had fallen through and we had been tracting from noon til about 5.
Plus to add to it all it was pouring rain all day long. So my companion and I
were wet and tired. We were done with knocking on doors and having people
tell us they have something better to do then to listen to us. Our dinner
appointment was coming and both of us were looking forward to it, mainly
because we both knew that this particular sister made the best hot chocolate
and we were sure ready for a nice big warm cup. Well It was my first transfer
as a senior plus I was training a new missionary. We had about 15 minutes
until our appointment and the house was a good 10 minute bike ride away. We
could have just gone and had a little more time to drink hot chocolate.
Something told me though that we needed to stick it out just a little bit
longer. So we park our bikes and walk into this apartment building soaking wet
and cold. The first door we knock on opens. A short man is behind the door with
a huge grin on his face. He invites us in and for the next 20 minutes starts to
explain how we are a direct answer to his prayer. The night before, he had been
pleading with the Lord to send him messengers to help him get his life in
order. Then we come. We taught and baptized J in a little over a
week. Every lesson we went to he was prepared with notes he had taken from his
Book of Mormon reading. He could explain the plan of salvation better than us,
and we hadn’t even taught it yet. I constantly look back on that experience and
think, what would have happened had I quenched the spirit. Would some other
missionary find J and baptize him or had the lord prepared me for that
specific day and time, to be right where I was to hear the still small voice?
Would I have heard it had I not been in the right spirit. Because of this I am
constantly asking myself if I am worthy to hear the lord. If I am ready to be
where he wants me. J is active and holds the priesthood. He is an example to
his ward and to his family. All because the Lord loves him and had prepared
him, and he listened.
Elder Goold
I am just over my year mark but the sweetest
experience of my mission thus far was back in my second area. We had just visited an investigator on a cool
spring day, which like every day in L.A. was perfect, and decided to knock on a
few doors. The investigator we had just visited was one that has been
investigating the church for quite some time . . .7 years. As we began approach with one woman we said
,”we are representatives of Jesus Christ .” we had barely finished our sentence
when she started saying ,”oh thank you but we’re not interested.” Suddenly we heard a disgruntled,”
Doorthumpers?! Let ‘em in!” coming from
the family room. I think this poor woman
was more unsettled then we were. We entered the house not knowing what to
expect and there was a man asking what we wanted. We started with a prayer and
taught the message of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We asked
why he had felt inspired to let us in.
He replied,” this little voice in the back of my head said let them in.”
we proceeded to teach him, but he wasn’t that interested, though his wife
listened and asked questions of almost everything we taught. She read the whole Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price in a little
over 2 months. After almost nine weeks of teaching her and a few baptismal
commitments that she had brushed off, she finally astonished us and revealed that she was already a member who
had been baptized 30 years ago and had never gone to church after her
confirmation and we had no record of her in our ward. After searching out her records we found them
and transferred them to our ward. One day her husband had walked out of a movie
in disgust and came home to read the bible.
“again,” he said,” I heard a voice telling me to read your book instead
of mine. . . . Johnny Appleseed was definitely a Prophet of God.” He could
never remember Joseph Smith, Jr.’s name.
He ended up being baptized and probably doesn’t have long to live due to
serious medical issues. Their names are S and D, having never
known my own grandparents very well, they became family to me and I am anxious
to see their smiling faces in the kingdoms of our Father. I know that this is the work of God and the
as it tells in the Jacob 5, the master is working alongside the servants. I haven’t had many baptisms in this mission,
but that’s not what is important, what matters most is who we become and who we
allow God to make us.
Elder Daniel McRae
A late experience I’ve have is with
an amazing family the kids last name H, and the mother B. We first
saw the kids riding our bikes to an appointment of a family that was usually
always flaky. In riding by a street corner some little kids yelled out
to us: “Hey Elders!” We kinda waved as we normally do and were just making a
turn… then I really felt something and stopping really thought. Which kids
would call Elders out unless they were members or something. We turned around and talking to them they
said they went to a church a little far away but knew primary and knew the
church they went to is Mormon. The past
few weeks we stopped by where they said they lived, finally found them, never
had their parents home. We questioned some if they were Mormon and kept
stopping by to catch them. Finally a few weeks later we finally caught their
mom home one night with their grandma when we felt impressed. They welcomed us
openly, found out the only one who was a member was the grandma who was just
reactivating and going up to the Southgate Ward. The mom, Sister B asked us
to start teaching her kids; there are 5 of them at 11,9,7,4, and 10 months. The
11 and 9 year old acccepted a date and are so knowledgeable in their progress,
it’s really been a joy teaching them. The 7 year old will turn 8 in a few
months and is excited to be baptized after his siblings. Sister B who never
suggested that she wanted to investigate has listened on every lesson. At first
she would just observe.. but now she’s engaged she sees how this will bless her
whole family, she intently listens as well. Just a few days ago she consented
to pray for her first time. The spirit was very strong and in addressing her
father in heaven there was a really big pause for about 2 minutes… we thought
she had forgotten what to say but in looking up tears were streaming down. She knows she felt the spirit strong and now
wants to start preparing for baptism as well. I know that God leads us to his
children, he guides us through his holy spirit, this gospel is his gospel and
will change lives and bring families to him. I feel privledge to be his servant
here in Los Angeles.
Sister Byon
Heavenly Father helped me with everything on my mission.
When I was discouraged and when I felt inadequate, Heavenly Father was always
there for me, helping me to press forward and continue to work hard. And when I
did that, I didn’t have to worry about things anymore. I could just have hope
and faith that we will find people to teach and that we’ll help bring others to
come unto Christ. I know that Heavenly Father answers our prayers and the
prayers helped me to feel His love and understand the atonement of Jesus Christ
even more. There is this one recent convert who got baptized in July. He was
ready and he just needed to be taught. He was a member referral and we
committed him to baptism in the first lesson and he said yes. That was a miracle
because everyone else thought it was going to take a while when we did what the
spirit told us to do, we were able to see a miracle When we do our best and
when we do our part, I know that Heavenly Father is going to bless us with many
things that we can’t even comprehend now. God works according to faith of His
Children.
Elder Franco
Elder Hadlock and I, Elder Franco,
were companions. We were downtown and having zero luck! We had nothing to do.
Everything that was supposed to happen crashed and burned. We started to argue
with each other on what to do. ASL work IS a complicated thing. Elder Dallin H.
Oaks once said, “We do not need harder-working missionaries; we need
smarter-working missionaries”. We used every calorie in our minds to come to
the conclusion of nowhere. After feeling bad for ourselves, we both felt
prompted to pray. We prayed to our Father in heaven for a deaf person to teach
today. Once the prayer was done, we turned to each other and said “L and
then M”. We seldom have success with L, but we went anyways. Lo and
behold, L was home. Then towards M’s, we said a prayer, “that the gates
would be open to us” (she lives in a private area with a locked gate). As we
parked and approached the gate, somebody just came out of their house for a
cigarette. He heard our shouts and came to open the gate for us. We taught
M and met a new Deaf person. WHAT A MIRACLE! I know God has mercy on us
all. He loves us. Though we must face trials feeling we are alone, I testify as
a witness to the Spirit of the Lord that we are NEVER alone. May we continue to
live everyday in thanksgiving to our Maker and may w e forever give our
reverence to the Spirit of the Lord. Jesus Christ is our Savior. Let us stand
tall and let the lost world what we know to be true. This I do in the name of
Jesus Christ, Amen.
Elder Clements:
A couple of months ago I had an
awesome experience where I saw a prayer answered by God. My companion, Elder Kim, and I had been
teaching a man named O for a couple of weeks. O was from Nigeria, Africa and spoke
very little English. He spoke kind of a
broken dialect of English. The first
time we met him Elder Kim couldn’t understand a single thing that he said. So we had been teaching him for a couple
weeks without much progression due to the fact that we just couldn’t
communicate very well with each other.
So we decided to take it to God.
We prayed and asked God to help O understand that he needed to
listen to what we had to say. The next
day we went over to O’s house and we asked him how his prayers had been
going. He said, “I get up in the
morning, maybe I eat some breakfast and I pray and God ministered to me. God told me to beg you people for help, BEG
YOU PEOPLE FOR HELP.” After that he knew
that he needed to start listening to us.
It still took a while to help him understand what we were teaching him,
but he was a lot more willing to listen to the things that we taught him and he
was eventually baptized. Now he’s
learning English and starting to work, all because he listened to God when he
was ministered to.
Elder Merrill
I was in an area called Gardena and the work was going
really slow. No one seemed to want to listen. We only had one pretty good
investigator named M. She was interested but was yet to have a really
good spiritual experience and was losing interest in us fast. So we decided
through prayer that it would be a great idea to take her to a baptism. So we
called her all that day to invite her to the baptism that night but she wasn’t
answering! We decided to stop by the night of the baptism to drag her there,
but no one answered the door! So I decided to pray. It was a simple prayer in
the car, but I plead with the Lord to somehow cause a miracle to occur and to
somehow get M to that baptism. Seconds after the prayer I felt the phone
vibrate and I knew right then it was M! She said something woke her up
and she suddenly felt she needed to go to the baptism. So she came and had a
great experience! She was baptized herself about a month later! I know the Lord watches out
for all his children and He hears and answers all our prayers!
Elder Lakip
Last week we had the chance to talk to an
investigator who has been meeting with the missionaries for over 5 years. She had been off and on about meeting with
the missionaries but we ran into her on the street one day. The area we’re in right now is a little
difficult due to the fact that we are by the beach by all these huge houses. My companion and I had been fasting and
praying for work and then she stopped us.
After a couple of weeks of meeting with us she committed to a baptismal
date. It is truly a miracle that she is
going to get baptized. We didn’t do
anything we just prayed and fasted and the lord poured blessings upon our
head. She said that she has been
thinking about us but just hasn’t heard from us in a long time. Its crazy because God put us in her path and
now shes starting on the right path that will lead her back to live with God
again
Elder Welling
About two weeks ago we were trying to find an area to go
tracting in and so we kneeled down and prayed and asked Heavenly Father to help
us find a street to tract. We ended up
choosing Chanslor Avenue. After about a
week or so of knocking this street, we had found a couple of potential
investigators but nobody that I was really sold on in terms of progressing
towards baptism. I was thinking we should
find a new street, but I learned a very important lesson the other day when we
found the H Family. We were
tracting at the very end of the road and were coming up on some of the last
homes. When we knocked Mr. H’s
door, he answered and we chatted for a little bit and then he invited us
in. He told us of how he and his wife
were just talking about trying to find a church that they and their kids could
start attending. He also mentioned that
about 10 minutes before we showed up, he should have left for work, but for
some reason he decided to stay. He told
us that he knew it was so that he could meet us. This experience was a lesson to me that we
keep going until we find the people the Lord has prepared for us. If I had given up and went to another street,
we wouldn’t have found the H Family.
The Lord prepares people and will, if we are working and finding with
faith, lead us to their doorsteps.
Elder Thiriot
During The Sunday of our mission wide fast we experienced a
wonderful fruit of our labor. It was a long day, with some good contacting and
tracting and a large helping of appointments and return appointments that fell
through. As we began to wrap up our day, trying hard to visit our back up
planned investigators and knock doors where we could, a day of seemingly no
success began to take its toll. By the end of the evening, we began to exhaust
all of our possible options of people on our list to visit. We ended up trying
all our backups and having nothing come from it. We were left standing on a
dark road without much time left until we needed to head home. We both felt we
needed to continue looking so we began to walk down the road. After a minute we
saw a man, the only one on the street, cleaning out his car. We began to talk to him, and taught him the
first lesson. He was interested and took it all in very well. We scheduled a
return appointment with him and his family. This was a simple example of how
the lord puts people in our way when we stick to it and trust in the Lord. I’m
grateful for the way in which people are prepared by the Lord.
Elder Isaacson
About six months ago, I was serving
in the Hawthorne/Lennox area. My
companion and I were flushed in, and we had ABSOLUTELY ZERO work going on in
our area! We came in and we didn’t even
have an area book to look at past work done by missionaries. It was a new apartment, and we didn’t even
have Book of Mormons or pamphlets to go tracting with. We had to walk completely by faith. One day, we received a referral from
headquarters for a man named “Wilnreeo”.
The moment that we received the referral, I thought to myself, “Oh
boy… This is going to be a bogus
referral…” We had already tracted for
four hours with no success before we decided to contact the referral. We went by and knocked on the door. The response was simple: “Nobody named Wilnreeo lives here,” and they
closed the door. We instantly began
knocking on that street, and it seemed that nobody was home. We moved super-quickly down the street and
arrived at an apartment complex with about five minutes more to knock. We knocked on a door, and a Latin lady opened
the door, and a shocked look came upon her face. She said very slowly, “When I was living in Inglewood about a month
ago, two guys dressed just like you guys knocked on my door. I felt something so special that day. They said that they were going to come back,
but they never did. Then I moved. Now, you guys knock on my door.” She was baptized four weeks later.
Elder Fourr
Two of our investigators that we
had set a baptismal date with were way
excited to get baptized even though they were really strong in their other
faith they loved us coming over and teaching them, they had a testimony about
what we were teaching and were just ready to get baptized, but just like every
rose has its thorn our next appointment we had with them they told us that they
didn’t think they wanted to be baptized anymore because they just couldn’t
leave her faith, and as missionaries that’s crushing, because you grow to love
these people and you want to see them be baptized. So it was really
heartbreaking for us to see that. But through a lot of prayer we knew what we
needed to teach these people so that they can understand the importance of
being baptized. We went back and taught them this and we extended another
baptismal date for them and they accepted! They were baptized a couple weeks
later on that date, and then confirmed the following week. The power of prayer
is real, our Heavenly Father listens to our prayers, and he will help us
whenever we need it, its through prayer.
Just remember that our Heavenly Father answers aren’t swift but they are
certain.
Elder Fritz Jung
There
was one morning before church that my companion and I were doing our very best
to try to get people to church. We visited at least 5 people and every single
one said that they wouldn’t be able to church even one or two people said that
they didn’t want us to visit them anymore.
It was probably one of the most frustrating days of my mission. As I was walking from door to door I heard in
my head what is the point of this, if no one is going to even listen or
change. I heard over and over again “you
are wasting your time.” I felt as if I
had reached my limit and I just wanted to quit.
Then as I walked with my companion, both frustrated, sad and
discouraged, we looked at each other and said well what does it matter let’s
just go to church. I remembered at that
moment what my Mother had once told me, “it doesn’t matter if every single door
slams in your face even if you never baptize your still doing God’s work and
are planting seeds.” At that moment I
felt a prompting that said “One more door.”
So just up the street was a lady named I. I was still disheartened but I walked to the
door knocked and what she said was “You are sweet young men but I don’t want
you guys to come around anymore, I have my TV pastor and my bible and I don’t
believe in what you say or the Book of Mormon.”
From the way the day was going could I expect anything different. Instead of giving up I felt this urge to bear my testimony and I opened up my mouth and said as plainly as I could “I I
know this church is true, I know that if you shut that door you will never find
the happiness again that you could have had.” With that she said “well what
time does church start?” Less than an
hour later she was at church and afterwards she said the reason why she came is
because when I bore my testimony that it was when she knew the church was
true. Three weeks later she was baptized
and now is a very active member with a strong testimony. What would have
happened if I would have quit? What would have happened if I didn’t go on my
mission? I testify that God helps us in our hour of need, he knows us and he
loves us so much. I know that this
Church is true and that God helps us and when we do what he asks he will give
us exactly what we need and that he does live and knows our names.
Elder Rogers
There have been many things in the
mission that I have seen that truly amaze me, but the greatest I believe is
conversion. Down town LA, cold, and wet, yah weird for Los Angeles weather I
know, but it happened. My companion and I were working hard to find new
investigators someone to teach that would have some interest in our message the
days and week went by…nothing, soon months past and we were able to find an investigator,
J, through tracting we were excited and began teaching her, but she never
progressed , she was a great lady but never progressed she was way busy with
work and had very little time for us to come over. The weeks passed and during
this time we continued tracting and searching diligently for the elect, until
one day we decided to tract again the same street that we found J, but we
started on the opposite end this time, as we tracted we approached J’s
house and didn’t see any prospects in was getting dark and we had only one more
house to knock before we got to Judith’s again, so we knocked the last house
waited for a little while and a lady in her upper 50s opened the door we said
we were representatives of Jesus Christ, and she told us to come back the next
day… 5 weeks later she was baptized. I know the lord has prepared people for to
teach the church is true.
Elder Rogers 2
The story that I would like
to relate happened very recently, although I have seen many other similar
instances during my sojourn here in Southern California. My companion and I
were headed back from a District Meeting into our area. The rest of our
district had decided on eating at In n’ Out, but we were short on money and, to
stretch our budget, decided to go to McDonald’s, which was having some good
deals at the time. We got there and spoke with an inactive man for a while. He
had made some bad mistakes and his life had turned upside down on him, and now
he wanted to come back to church. We took down his information, finished our
meal, and were preparing to leave. As threw away our trash, I noticed that a
young woman sitting nearby was staring rather intently at us. This really is
not that uncommon of an occurrence. I looked at her and smiled, and then we
went to leave. As we were outside unlocking our bikes, we both felt prompted to
go back inside and talk with her. Following the dictations of the Holy Spirit,
we returned and struck up a conversation with her. She told us that she too had
felt as if she needed to talk with us, although she placed the feeling on
curiosity as to what we were doing dressed up so funny in a McDonalds. We
taught her a brief Restoration message, and then took down her information. She
is still investigating the church and progressing towards conversion into the
true church of Jesus Christ. This would not have happened if the Lord had not
directed us, not only to that restaurant, but also back inside the restaurant.
My testimony was strengthened that day. This is the Lord’s work, and if we will
follow the promptings that He sends us, we will have success.
Elder Salas
About a month and a half ago we were blessed to have two
baptisms, both of which were brothers. They
are progressing great in the gospel; they are both Aaronic priesthood age and
both have the priesthood! They have lots of friends in the ward as well. They
love the gospel and truly do have a testimony of it. When we teach them they
enjoy the lessons very much and always have very good questions! Recently we
were able to start teaching their family. They have a lot of family and all of
them sit in and listen. We took the whole family to the visitor’s center one
night and they really enjoyed themselves so they asked us to come back and
teach them. So we went back, and we had previously taught them about the Book
of Mormon. So we watched the Testaments movie with them. At the end of the
movie was the grand slam of the whole experience! The grandmother expressed how
she liked it very much and everyone did as well. Then I was impressed to share
with everyone how I felt. I described how often we feel the Holy Ghost
testifying to us the truth in our heart, and how I feel it as a burning
sensation. She then asked me if the feeling she was having in heart, the
pressure and burning feeling in heart chest was the Holy Ghost telling her it
was true. The only word I said was “yes” and as soon as I said that tears went
down her cheeks. She knew that the Book of Mormon was true and she could hold
it in!
That day was awesome!! Ever since
that family has opened there doors to us to keep teaching them! They love us
coming over and they love to feed us! I know that if it wasn’t for the
missionary work we are giving that family would still not know the truth.
Sister Dickson
In my first area we taught a girl named C. One Sunday she approached us and said “Can I
take my lessons so that I can be baptized?”
She was baptized 3 weeks later. I
was transferred out of that ward, but now I am back in the same ward. C is in the Relief Society Presidency
and she gave the lesson one Sunday. She
told her whole conversion story, pretty much all of which I didn’t know. She had had contact with the church for about
4 years before she decided to be baptized.
She first found out about the church through the salesman in a T Mobile
store. She went to church for awhile
with him, but their relationship ended and she stopped going to church. She continued, though, reading Mormon blogs,
listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and she even went to General
Conference. She went to church and made
friends with members in New York, Arizona, and here in LA. In each place she had a special experience
with the church that helped her small testimony grow. Heavenly Father knows C perfectly. He provided little miracles for her to slowly
be converted to the gospel. My role in
teaching her right before her baptism was so small compared to everything
previous missionaries, all her friends in the church, and the Tabernacle Choir
have done to help her. Heavenly Father
made her conversion happen through all of these means over the past 4
years. He orchestrated this great
miracle in her life.
Elder Lingam
Well what happened was that as ASL
missionaries we have limited finding abilities so when we receive a referral we
do everything we can to get them to learn and progress in the gospel. One day
we received a referral for a man named O we only had his address so
we went to contact him. Went and knocked on his door we were really excited. A
younger Man answered the door saw us and signed to us Mormon church no. and
slammed the door. We walked away discouraged and thought he just wasn’t ready
yet. About a month later a older man came to church we had never seen him
before he told us that his named was O and that a few months ago we
knocked on his door and his brother answered and rejected us but that is the
day he started learning about the church from one of his friends that live in
northern California and she convinced him to come and try out the church. This
story meant a lot to me because it showed me how the Lord prepares people even
when we thought we didn’t accomplish anything that day when we went but because
we knocked on the door O was able to find the church and be baptized.
Elder Billat
We were struggling on finding investigators to baptize but
we knew by trusting in the Lord He would provide. We prayed about where we
should go tract and we picked a street and we tracted it. Not very much time
went by until we knocked on the S Families door. They are a great family and I love them to
death. When we knocked on the door the grandpa answered the door. The cool
thing is that he was not very interested but right before we were about to
leave A came running to the door. He is 16 and the first thing he said to
us is that his dad wants to get baptized in our church. We were of course very
surprised by this comment by it proved to us that the Lord loves His children
and puts us in their path to find them. Most of the family got baptized, the
parents and A their son. A later told us about when we first knocked
his door how he was prompted to run and see who was at the door. This family was prepared and had no problem
accepting the restored gospel. God does love us and knows our individual
situations. He is able and ready to help us with whatever needs we may have.
Sister Harrison
We were looking for someone that we could teach because we
had no investigators. We had been praying to know what to do and where we
should find someone. We started to go through our ward list and think about
people that we could go see to ask them for referrals. We came to this one
apartment that had members rooming together and we knew that we needed to go to
that apartment and talk with them. As
time was going by, we couldn’t get in touch with anyone that lived there and we
were a bit discouraged because it wasn’t working out. Transfers were coming and
we were trying hard, but I lost my companion in the transfer and got a new one.
She came in and she wanted to find investigators too, like any missionary does.
So we prayed again about what we should do and went over the ward list again.
As we went down the list, she stopped at the same apartment that my last
companion and I were trying to get in contact. I knew that we needed to get
into that apartment because something was supposed to happen there. So we
started to try again and we got in touch with one of the roommates and we went
over to see her. When we got there and started to talk to her. She told us that
we need to talk to one of her roommates, her roommate had something that she
needed to tell us about a friend. So we got in touch with the girl that
we needed to talk to, and she told us about her boyfriend and that he wants to
take the lessons. We were so excited to hear that and I knew that Heavenly
Father had blessed with one of His children. We taught him the lessons and he
was baptized. That was one of the best experiences of my
life. He understood the gospel and knew how the Spirit spoke to him. When you
are truly doing want the Lord wants, He blesses you with miracles and I have
seen that throughout my whole mission.
Elder Correa
Well, one
amazing thing that has happened is my companion, and I were visiting a few
less- active members, but nobody was home….. so we went and visited a few
potential investigators, and nobody was home…. We soon realized that maybe we
were relying on our own judgments and abilities to do the Lords work, and
that’s just not the best way to it…… so we knelt down and said a prayer asking
Heavenly father to help us find something useful to do….. we felt like we
should go tracting. So off we went and the first person that we saw was a lady
walking two kids……one in the stroller, and one by the hand…. We said hello, we
are missionaries from the true church of Jesus Christ….. she turned around and
said; “is this my sign? Just not even 20 seconds ago I prayed and asked God that
if he loved my, he would show me a sign….. is this my sign?” we replied yes and
taught her about the power of prayer, and the love of God….. The spirit was so
strong….. It is through this experience
that I learned that God is here to love his children, and He can work miracles
through people sometimes…… as long as we are ready, and worthy to assist Him in
His mighty work…… I love this work!!!!!
Elder Nead
I
believe Heavenly Father truly blesses those who are patient. I came into
Koreatown early on in my mission and stayed for a long time before I was
finally able to see the fruits of success. We got a call one day from a member
telling us that her daughter’s friend M wanted to meet with the
missionaries. She had started going to church again recently and had in fact
went to church and been taught by missionaries for a short time several years
ago. Heavenly Father had given her many difficult experiences in her life which
caused her to re-question her relationship with God; and she began to spend
more time with her member friend who offered her more direction in her life
through the gospel. M was ready to let it all sink in and she accepted
and acted upon what was taught. I truly saw everything fall into place for her
to accept the gospel by being baptized. Elder Kim and I were definitely not the
‘perfect missionaries she needed’ but God got her ready and I was blessed with
the opportunity to help teach her. God prepares His children according to His
and their time. He uses us missionaries as tools to carry on His work and
discover the great blessings that come from it.
Elder Johnson
A couple of months ago we got a call for a referral, so we
went right away. Turns out that the referral wasn’t there, but we talked to a
lady across the street who we found out was going through a rough time. She
told us to come back the next day to teach her and her three grandchildren. As
we got there the next day it was obvious that this family had been through a
lot. The Grandma was taking care of her three grandchildren ages 10, 8, and 5
whose parents had abandoned them. The grandma was desperate and didn’t know how
she could go on supporting those kids. All of her family was telling her to
turn them over to social services, but that would mean that they would split
the kids up. The first time we taught them I walked out crying because of how
sad those kids were. I remember as we said the closing prayer the 8 year old
girl was just in tears. Our hearts ached for them, but we knew that had sent us
to them so they could have the Gospel in their lives. We started teaching them and they loved
church. The ten year old boy started reading the Book of Mormon and finished it
in less than two months. His dream is to be a missionary. They found a home and
found comfort as they were taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and I will
forever be grateful for the miracle that it was to be able to find and teach
them and watch them be baptized.
Sister Masihdas
I truly
believe that missionary work has nothing to do with us and that Heavenly Father
truly prepares his children to receive the gospel. While there are some things
about missionary work that are really hard, more often than not missionary work
is easy because the investigator gains a testimony on his/her own. We had an
amazing miracle happen with a young couple from China. They have lived in the
U.S. for about a year and they were driving down Santa Monica Boulevard one day
and saw the temple. They were astonished and amazed by the temple, so they went
inside and asked what they needed to do to be part of the church. The
wife, has been quite prepared for the gospel, especially since she was raised
in China where believing in God isn’t the norm. She soaked up everything we
said and loved coming to church and reading the Book of Mormon. It was a really
special experience to teach her and her husband about Jesus Christ for the
first time and introduce them to the restored gospel. She received her
testimony right away, but he has been taking a little bit longer. The first
time we extended the baptismal commitment, she said yes, but he said he
wanted to wait. A few days later, she came up to us at church and said “I
decided I don’t want to wait. I want to be baptized next Sunday.” What
missionary doesn’t love hearing those words! It was a real testament to me that
God truly does prepare people. Honestly, we didn’t do much except to
teach her. We are still working on him, but we have been really blessed in his
lessons to know what to say and how to help him accept the gospel. I know that
we are truly instruments in God’s hands and that as we try our hardest to do
our best, he blesses us with opportunities to teach his choice children.
Elder Fillerup
As a missionary, the single most
important thing to learn is how the Lord speaks to you personally, through the
Holy Ghost. When I began serving, I had many doubts about how effective I would
be because I didn’t feel like I knew how the Lord would guide me to do His work
here in Los Angeles. One evening, I learned very personally how the Lord does
speak to us individually. My companion and I were both relatively new in the
field, having been only here for three transfers each. We left our appointment
in Compton and drove back toward our apartment just outside of our area, in
Gardena. As I reached the major street just a few blocks from our home, I
thought of a specific street corner at the edge of our area, and I had a strong
feeling like we NEEDED to be there. I had driven by the corner many times, and
knew that there was a taco stand and a few other shops there, but it was 8:40
at night. I didn’t think ANYONE would be there, but I told my companion anyway,
and we went. When we arrived, I looked and saw a taco truck parked there near
the restaurant, and felt like we needed to walk to the other side of it. It was
really strange to me, to think I would have some feeling like that, especially
about a taco truck! We went in faith, and when we passed the taco truck, there
were two men who just stopped in for dinner before heading home after a long
day of work. They had met the missionaries before and had some questions still.
In our broken Spanish (we had only been in LA for 4 months) we told them about
the Restoration of the Church of Christ and gave them El Libro de Mormon, and
told them to call the missionaries using the pass-along card. I don’t know what
ever happened to them, but I know that we were put there for a reason. It was one of the turning points for me in
the mission. I had been made the senior companion that transfer, and was
feeling especially incapable of being effective. But that night, I realized
that God really IS in charge of this work. This IS His Church, and that if we
are humble enough to see it, that we’ll recognize His hand in our lives on a
regular basis.
Elder Wood
This is a story from when I was with my trainer. We had travelled to our area where we were to have some
appointments with Investigators and also Less Actives. As one appointment came
to an end we realized that we had about 10 minutes before our next appointment
was to start. There were many people close by the area that we could have
chosen to visit or we could have simply decided to tract for a bit as well,
both would have been perfectly fine choices. However, we had a strong
impression that we should go to where this other Less Active family lived which
wasn’t exactly anywhere near to where we were. We really didn’t have any idea
why we felt like we should go over there but when that kind of idea comes you
just go with it! It wasn’t until after the fact that we realized how important
it was that we went there. When we arrived at the apartment complex we headed
towards the apartment of the family with hopes that we might be able to set up
an appointment time with them. Before we even reached their apartment we heard
someone call out “Elders!” only to look over and see a guy that we had never
met before. He explained that his wife and himself were visiting family for the
weekend and had just been sealed in the temple the previous day. He went on to
say that they were actually just going to try and get a hold of some
missionaries because his wife needed a blessing and he wanted some missionaries
present, that’s when we walked into their apartment complex. We were able to
give his wife a blessing of health as she was pregnant with a child and the Los
Angeles air hadn’t been too good for her. We finished the blessing and had just
enough time to get back to the appointment that we had set many days earlier.
It was amazing to see how even though we only had a few short minutes; the Lord
was able to direct us to exactly where we needed to be so that we could help a
family.
Elder Barfuss
Well I’ll go back to a story that happened at the beginning
of my mission but is still significant today because I have actually returned
back to my first area and have the special opportunity to continue working with
the family that we baptized. It was a complete miracle that we found them in
the first place, we had prayed and prayed to know what street we should tract on and when we arrived at the designated street my trainer and I both felt a
strong impression that there was somebody here for us to teach. We began knocking
doors and in one of the buildings there was a shady tree area off to the side
and back nestled into the trees was a woman and her 2 nieces. The trees weren’t
particularly tall by any means and I am not short but my trainer nudged me back
into the trees to go and talk to them. She was less than interested at the
beginning but agreed to allow us back. The first time we went back she sat on
her far couch trying to nestle herself as far away from us as she possibly
could, looked straight forward and told us not to ask her questions and she
just sat there. Well the third meeting she had she finally felt the spirit and
began to open up and share with us some trials she is facing with her family,
her daughters joined in with us and all 3 began to progress and do well. One
day the father of the family came home and walked straight by without a word
and went to his room. That evening He got drunk, and decided to run to the
store, where (unfortunately for him) the police just happened to be there and
He was arrested and put in jail for DUI. There He had a change of heart and his
heart was softened. The couple got married got baptized and still stay strong
to this day. They are taking temple prep classes and will enter the temple in
November. I had left the area for a year and what an amazing experience it was
to come back and see that we were “still brothers in the gospel” I know that
God directs this work, I have seen it time and time again, day by day I know
that not only does God live, but He cares about me personally and that I truly
am one of His sons. I know that Christ Suffered for every single person that
will ever step foot on this earth and I am doing all I can to make sure that
they know that as well. This work is God’s and He truly directs it through His
chosen Leaders.
Elder Washington-
One of our investigators was getting baptized on this one
Sunday, and she wanted me to do the baptism.
This was still my first area and it was all Spanish, and my Spanish
wasn’t that good so I was going over the baptism prayer in Spanish over and
over all week long. Finally Sunday came
and I still wasn’t able to say the baptismal prayer right, and other people
couldn’t understand me. I remember just before entering the water just saying a
big prayer to my Heavenly Father to help me say the baptismal prayer right.
When it was time for me to say the words just flew out my mouth and I said
every word correctly. I knew that was of the Spirit and I know that the Lord hears
our prayers when we have faith.
Sister Decker-
We were
going to make contact with a referral that came into the visitor’s center. We
ended up talking to her for a little while, but she wasn’t interested in
learning more from us other than to pick up a Farsi Book of Mormon from the visitor’s
center. We decided to Find around the referral on the same floor since we had
gotten buzzed into the building. We knocked on a door and found a girl that is
attending UCLA and whose sister attended BYU. We talked with her about Utah and
about her family. At very first she told us that she was very Catholic and not
interested, but by the end of just a short conversation, SHE asked US if we
could come back when she had more time and if she could make us lunch! We will
see her for lunch in a few days! God helped us find her!
Sister Clark-
We are
teaching an older gentleman named A. We found him tracting one day. He is in
his sixties and is retired. When we first met him, he told us that he is agnostic,
that is, he doesn’t believe that you can know that there is a God. He seemed
willing to learn more though so we started teaching him. Over the past 7 weeks,
we have seen his faith grow. One of the neatest parts of teaching him has been
praying with him. I doubt that he had ever prayed out loud in his life before
we taught him. The first prayer that he said with us out loud was so powerful!
I remember feeling the Spirit very strongly as he talked with Heavenly Father.
The most rewarding part of being a missionary is seeing peoples’ lives change
as they come to know God more and feel His love in their lives.
Elder Clark-
I know
that I have been guided by the Lord so many times over the course of my
mission. Yesterday we had planned to
visit a lady who had been investigating the church in the past. When we knocked on her door she immediately
let us in and we began to talk about her family and the experiences she had had
in the past with this church and with other churches as well. For the first 15
to 20 minutes it seemed like we weren’t getting anywhere with the conversation
and I was praying to know what we should do to help her.
As we
continued to talk with her, I felt prompted to ask her a simple question that I
can’t even remember now. But right then
she started to tell us about the trials she was having and the struggles that
she was faced with. It was amazing how
much the spirit in the room changed as we began to testify of Jesus Christ and
His atonement and its healing power. It was amazing to see how much that
softened her heart as she felt the spirit. Leaving the house I said a silent
prayer of thanks for being able to share what I have been learning my whole
life with her.
Elder Lovelace-
When I first got to my 3rd
area, Lawndale, back in August of 2009, we found a family that I immediately
grew to love. We found them by looking
up in our area book some names of people who used to get taught by missionaries
but never got baptized. They were the
F/G family. They had
missionaries going over there off and on for the last 8 years. I remember walking in there after we first
contacted them and feeling the Spirit very strongly. We told them that although they have heard
the lessons and had been familiar with the Gospel for awhile, that this time it
was going to be different and they were going to get baptized. The family had a mom and then 7 kids As we worked with them, we faced many
struggles. Some of them had to quit
smoking, one had to separate from her boyfriend who was living there with
her, and some just had to overcome doubts they had in the things we
taught. The Lord was at every visit we
had with them and the Spirit guided them even when we weren’t there. Although it was a struggle, the Lord
performed miracles and changed their hearts in order to bring them to a greater
happiness. On November 1, 2009, four got baptized.
November 15, 2009, another got baptized.
And on November 21, 2009, one more got baptized. We are still waiting for a son and the mom to get baptized but in due time, that day will come. B is now preparing to start his mission
papers and they are faithful members of the church. Through this experience, I felt my testimony
grow in many aspects but especially in the fact that God truly is mindful of
all the details of ALL His children.
This is definitely the Lord’s work and miracles never cease. It is experiences like this that make the
mission the best decision I ever made.
Elder Sanderson-
The other night my companion and I were knocking some doors
right before we went in for the night.
We tried a couple but the gates were locked or no one would answer the
door. I heard a small child singing down
the street. She was in a stroller and
mom and dad were taking her out for an evening walk. A feeling came to my heart,
unmistakingly: Talk to them. We are serving in an English area and don’t
get the opportunity to practice Spanish as much as we might like, and this
family was Spanish. However, that
feeling was definite: talk to them. No
one in their houses was letting us in anyway.
We approached and greeted them. I
told them that we are missionaries. I
told them that we have a prophet who receives direction from God. I told them that prophets are here to bless
our families, that if we listen to them, our families will be protected and
will live together forever. I’d never
made that connection before. Prophets
help our families. Also, I was speaking
in Spanish. The words just came. I was trying my best to make it come out
right, and I could feel the Spirit speaking through me. I saw their faces soften as they realized
that they want such guidance for their family.
I know that the Spirit was speaking through me, to their hearts.
Elder Jackson-
The Lord is always looking out for us, as missionaries. Just
when you think everything has gone wrong and you’ve failed a miracle happens. I
remember one day where I was especially discouraged. I had a flat tire on my
bike within twenty minutes of leaving the apartment. Once I fixed that we
headed back out to our area to work. Just as we got to the point in our area
furthest from our apartment my pedal fell off. As we walked back towards home
at the end of the day I felt as if nothing was going our way. Our investigators
weren’t progressing and no one we had talked to on the streets was interested
in learning more about the gospel. About one block from home a man ran out of a
store yelling at us to stop and wait. His name was J. He’d received
the lessons from the missionaries three years back but had never been baptized.
He had just gotten out of jail that day and decided he was ready for change. He
wanted to have the spirit that he felt when the missionaries were in his home.
J was baptized three weeks later and received the priesthood the
following month. I saw as a new light come into his eyes that wasn’t there
before. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing the lives of your
investigators change. The point of this story is that had my bike not broken
down we never would have been on that street at that time in order to meet
J. God knew J was ready to hear the gospel and he lead us right to
where we needed to be. I’ve learned that everything happens for a reason even
having your bike fall apart. The Lord truly walks beside us in this great work.
Elder Bennett-
A first
transfer miracle, some would say…My companion and I were relentlessly searching
through our area book trying to find those who at one time had an interest in
the gospel of Jesus Christ. A few names were gathered and we were proceeding to
visit each name. After a few weeks, we had visited all of the names on the list
and concluded that perhaps God’s timing would prove more beneficial in the
future for each of these individuals. A
week had passed and I decided to look upon the list again. I noticed that the H family slipped
pass our recognition. We figured we would visit them after church the following
day. Upon arriving at their house, we quickly learned that they had just
returned from a three week vacation and that a tragedy had recently taken place
in the family. His father had passed away only hours before our arrival.
With the Spirit presiding, we taught them about eternal families and Heavenly
Father’s plan of happiness. A month
later, the son. and his mother were baptized as members of the Lord’s church.
I now have a greater testimony of God’s divine timing. When we hearken unto His
counsel and do His will, blessings will come in abundance!!
Elder Welch-
In my first area of the mission my trainer and I had only
one steady investigator for the 4 1/2 months I was there. His name was W and he was a
13-year old who was living with his adoptive father, who was a member. He is the quietest person I have ever met, and
I don’t expect to meet anyone quieter in my life. We would teach an entire lesson and he would
only give one word answers when we asked a really easy question. Otherwise, he would not say a word. We would commit him to baptism insisting that
he was ready, and he would never commit.
We prayed hard for that kid because he was so close! We would try lessons to get him to feel, and only
after we told him how he felt would he agree with a “yes,” or just a simple
nod. My trainer was in tune enough with
the spirit to know that we needed to really help him be comfortable with the
gospel, which is what we did. Towards
the end of his time in that area my trainer committed him to baptism for the 4th
of October and W accepted! His
baptism was one of the most spiritual experiences of my life. While W was changing after the baptism
his father said he was singing “I am a child of God.” We were so grateful to the Lord and how
merciful he had been to us and to the family. What a blessing it has been to be a
missionary!
Elder Maddox-
The Lord has done many things to help me on my mission. Every day, whether we realize it or not, He’s
helping us work. There are lots of times
when I’ve felt prompted to go one more house or look just a little bit harder
and we found someone ready to teach. I
remember one night my companion and I were out and it was starting to get
pretty dark. We work in an area that’s
not necessarily the safest when it’s dark so we usually try not to tract
late. My companion wanted to keep
finding though, because we had a goal to find one new investigator that day and
up to that point we had found none. I
thought it would be better to go visit someone who we knew rather than find
because people don’t answer the door when it’s dark, but, my companion
insisted. Somewhat grudgingly, I went
along. The first door nobody
answered. The second door the guy got
mad at us for being out so late knocking on doors. At that point I was ready to be done. Elder Bluth said “just one more,” and so we
knocked one more. It just so happened
that we found a new investigator! He had
seen the missionaries before when he lived in El Salvador and wondered what we
did. The Lord will help us achieve our
goals, but, we have to show Him that we’re willing to work. That’s what I learned that night. The Lord helps people who are doing as much
as they can.
Elder Evans-
There was one experience where I was with an Elder named
Elder Kim, it was his last transfer before going home. I had just got to the
area and we already had a girl that was willing to be baptized. She was living
with her sister (they hadn’t seen each other their entire lives). We started
teaching her and everything was going well. One day we were on our way to an
appointment and I noticed my companion Elder Kim going in a different
direction. I followed behind feeling that he knew what he was doing. I began to
recognize the path we were taking and we ended up at this girl’s house. It was
unplanned, and we got to the door and the first thing the sister did when she
saw us was tell us, I can’t believe you guys are here, we need you. We got in
and it turns out something happened to the girl we were planning on baptizing.
Because we showed up when we did we were able to help her and she was still
able to be baptized the following week. The spirit really guided us to their
house that day.
Hermana Wilson-
I LOVE Being a Missionary!!!
My companion and I decided to tract on a particular street one day, and,
as we were tracting, found a young man by the name of H, who is 15. He seemed totally golden, asking questions
about families being together forever, etc.
As we were talking to him, his dad (also named H ) came up and began
talking to us. Both of them set return
appointments, and we were so excited to have found this family! Well, when we went back to teach Jr.,
he wasn’t there. Bummer number one. When we went back to teach Sr., he
was there! However (bummer number 2),
after inviting us in and telling us that we were welcome to talk to/teach him,
he also told us apologetically that he was Catholic, and his parents were
Catholic, and his grandparents had been Catholic and so of course he couldn’t change or
anything. But, he told us, “my nephew just moved here from Tijuana, and was just asking me about Mormons, so
he’d probably love to talk to you!” So
neither of the Hs were golden, but the nephew turned out to be an incredible
young man! He’s 21, from Tijuana,
Mexico. He was born Catholic, but
studied with Jehovah’s Witnesses when he was younger, and was most recently
attending a Christian church. We taught
him that night (Saturday), then the next day (Sunday) he came to church, and on
Monday when we taught him again, he committed to be baptized! He was one who recognized the truth right
away, and has had many experiences feeling the Spirit, especially when reading
the Book of Mormon. It was such a great
experience to see the way that Heavenly Father placed him in our path, and just
how ready he is!
Elder Jenne
We have
been teaching a young family that has been having some problems. We first met
the girlfriend and she wanted us to come and talk to her boyfriend
G. G did not believe in God or go to any type of church. When we
first started to teach them it was really hard to get them to feel the Spirit
or even know where to start teaching them because they didn’t have that basic
belief in God. My companionl and I decided we would teach them about the Book of
Mormon and testify of its divinity and then commit them to read and pray about
it. We gave them Moroni chapter 10 to read and we left it in the Lord’s hands.
The next time we went back G had completely changed and he knew that God
existed because he had felt the Spirit as he read. He had read the chapter and
even went further and read 3 or 4 more chapters from the beginning. After they both had read they decided that
they wanted to stay together as a couple and get married and become a family
with their young son. It was an amazing miracle that we saw and a testimony to
me of the power of the Book of Mormon and the spirit in the process of
conversion.
Elder Russell:
This week we visited a less active man for the first time
with his non-member wife who was/is “Catholic.”
We asked a couple questions about them and eventually the conversation
lead to talking about prayer and the power of it in our lives. The whole time that my comp and I were
teaching I noticed that the husband had a smile on his face that was getting
bigger and bigger as we continued. I
asked him if he had ever had an experience where God has answered his prayer?
(Inspired Question) He told us of how a
week ago he had gone to Disneyland with his family, spent the whole day there,
and then returned to discover that he had left his camera at the amusement
park. He quickly called the Disneyland
hotline to see if they would be able to find it amidst their lost and found
(fat chance, right?) he described what
the camera looked like to the Disneyland employee and waited as the man on the
other side of the phone went to go look for it.
Meanwhile Bro. T is praying to God that their new camera might be found. His prayer lead him to say “If you find the
camera for me, I will call the missionaries up and have them give us the
lessons.” Shortly thereafter the
Disneyland worker returned from his search successful, somebody had found the
camera. That same evening, Elder Ricks
and I saw his name in the ward directory and Elder Ricks suggested we should
call and ask if we could go over and visit with him and his family. The family is now praying together for the
first time ever.
Elder Brady-
One of the biggest testimony builders I have had while I
have been serving on my mission is watching people that have a lot going on in
their lives meet us, and change in less than two months so much they don’t even
realize it. One of the biggest changes I have seen is with a man that we have
been teaching the last two months. When I first got into this area, I and my
companion were trying to find some new people to teach, so we randomly tracted
an apartment complex in the middle of the day on a weekday, and had no real
success, we thought… While we were there we handed a pass along card to a lady
at the door, and told her to call us in the future. About six weeks later we
got a referral to that same apartment, but with a man’s name. We went over and
met this man named A., he saw the pass along card in his house and remembered
when a co-worker talked to him about the church, so he decided to call. As we
started teaching him, he accepted everything and prayed about it, and now has a
testimony about the truthfulness of the church. His ex-girlfriend was living
with him, so that was preventing him from being baptized, and he always had
work on Sundays which prevented him from going to church. So, he talked to his
boss so he doesn’t have to work on Sundays, and last week he called us and told
us he moved out of his apartment so he could be baptized. It is amazing the
change that you make in the lives of people while you are serving a mission.
God really uses us to find those who need him in there life at the right time.
Elder Amundsen-
This work is truly the Lord’s work,
and it is done in His way on His timing by His power. I recall the scripture
mastery verse that teaches us that ‘the Lord’s ways are not our ways, or our
His thoughts our thoughts.’ I have come to realize the truthfulness of that
scripture in Isaiah as I have been on my mission. I have been humbled many
times as things I thought were impossible or unlikely have happened before my
eyes. One such experience that
demonstrates what I am talking about is the miracle I saw when we found Salud
Erguiza, one of the most wonderful investigators I have taught my entire
mission.
A few months ago we received a
referral from the headquarters of the church to visit a family that lives in E Village, a small community located next to E College. This area
is typically one that missionary work has never really thrived and rarely have
missionaries ever been there if they could avoid it- it is on the richer side
of things and not what you would think is an area conducive to missionary work.
In anycase, one evening my companion and I went to contact the referral. We
were quickly shut down and the family told us they had never wanted to know
about the church in the first place. With a sigh, I turned away from the door
and surveyed the street we were standing on. It did nothing to inspire much
excitement inside me. I am ever thankful that my companion and I decided to
have faith and attempt to find someone else that might be interested in the
restored gospel. Two rejections later I was beginning to think ‘here we go
again.’ Then miraculously the Lord placed us right in the path of S., a
wonderful woman who had lost her father a few months earlier and was currently
in the midst of despair over it and other family problems. The Spirit we had
touched her heart and never before having heard of the Church in her life, she
began investigating. Since that day she has received a strong witness from the
Holy Ghost of the truth of the things we are teaching and has overcome many
trials, including the Word of Wisdom. She reads in the Book of Mormon daily and
is an amazing example to me that this is the Lord’s work and not mine. When we
found her, I was not expecting anything to happen. My finite mind had convinced
me that nothing would happen on that street, but the Lord showed me that His
ways are not my ways. This is truly His work.
