Elder Pitts
One of the experiences that I would like to share is of a
family that I met in one of my many areas. When I first met this family I was
surprised. They were supposed to get baptized the transfer before but for one
reason or another it didn’t happen. We started from the beginning again. They
fully understood the restoration and they asked many questions about Joseph
Smith. We asked them if they were still praying to find out that Joseph Smith
was a prophet. They answered that they had not been praying. In the following weeks
we taught them the lessons and we watched their faith grow. Within that one
transfer that I was there I saw a full conversion take place and I know that as
we strive to teach our brothers and sisters that they will come to an
understanding of the gospel and how it applies to them in their life.
Conversion takes place when we give up our will and ask Heavenly Father in the
name of Christ to know the truth and then follow the answer we receive.
Elder Kelly
This past month I have seen so many miracles in the lives of
our investigators. One in particular was in the middle of a lesson. We were
just plowing along teaching the doctrine when we just stopped and started to
ask inspired questions, and listen to what his needs were. We learned a lot
about the things he was going through and in return we were able to relate the
Book of Mormon to his life and how it can help him. He hadn’t seen the Book of
Mormon as something that was true, but after 2 to 3 minutes of silence he broke
it with “you guys make the Book of Mormon come alive, and it’s time to make a
change.” At that moment I knew the
things that we had taught him that day were guided by the spirit and that we
were truly messengers of our Heavenly Father, helping his children understand
how they can return to live with him again. I will never forget the feelings of
the spirit that day, they were so strong, and I knew I was doing exactly what
Heavenly Father sent me there to do. How lucky we are to have the gospel in our
lives, and have the ability to recognize the spirit.
SisterThompson:
"It never ceases to amaze me how the Lord crosses the
paths of certain people for their own individual edification. Several times in
the Visitor Center I have combined tours out of necessity or prompting, only to
find that the testimony of a person in one group met the very specific needs of
a person in the other. Very often the Lord has prepared certain people to share
their testimony and knowledge with others, and we as missionaries are simply
there to connect the tours, ask an inspired question, and sit back to watch the
Lord work. One night I was taking around a delightful woman; she was elderly,
loved talking about her grandchildren, and absolutely firm in the faith. As we
entered God's Plan for His family, we encountered a man already there who was
somewhat hesitant to accept my invitation to join us. He was a man from
Guatemala in his young twenties, looked a little hardened and a little
depressed. In all honesty, I wondered what common ground I could possibly find
that could help both the visitors. After the movie was over, I asked them how
the teachings of Jesus Christ could help his family. He broke down and shared
his very broken, battered situation with us. I stood there, feeling absolutely
inexperienced, with no words for this hurting son of God. And the woman turned
to him and bore a powerful testimony, and shared a similar experience she had
had. I was floored. Never in a million years would anyone guess that this
woman--completely opposite from this man in every way--could relate so well to
him. I have no doubt that the Lord had a hand in putting her testimony in the
path of this young man who needed it so much."
Elder Takogawa,
I got to
a new area and my companion and I were looking through the area book. We came
across a name “Esther” several times. All the comments left by other
missionaries seemed to imply that she was somewhat interested. So we decided to
visit her. We knocked on her door and there she was. She answered the door
politely and told us that she’s leaving to go get her medicine. She was using a
walker and lived in the upper part of the apartment so we offered to help her
getting down the stairs. We started talking and she told us that she’s talked
to the missionaries like us before. We asked her if she’d accept us to come
back. She said she’ll be at her home. We explained the message of the
Restoration briefly and gave her the pamphlet. The next day, we returned to see
her again. She was there, as she had told us. We had several discussions and
she told us that she wanted to join the “community” but she wasn’t sure if she
wanted to join because she received an answer from Heavenly Father or because
she feels lonely and wants to be a part of warm welcoming community. We
promised her that as she reads the Book of Mormon and keeps praying, she will
come to “know”, not just believe or feel good about it. We took her to
Visitors’ Center and there, in front of the Christos, we asked her to be
baptized as Christ has asked us to. Tears were coming out of her eyes and she
said “Yes, yes.” My companion and I both felt the Spirit so strongly; we all
knew that she knew this church is true. I loved the feeling of sharing the
“joy”. I knew that Heavenly Father was happy for her and welcoming her. Later,
she told us “Thank you for bringing back to home”. I know that this work is His.
Without His divine guidance, we’re not able to accomplish a thing but with His
divine guidance, we can accomplish anything.
Elder Son
Serving as a Korean missionary here in a mission with only
two Korean units, has been and still is a very special task. I went through a
tough time a while back having no new investigators and haven’t had any people
come to church. It was really tough and hard to keep up the motivation. It came
to my mind that maybe its because we need to change. So I got down during our
weekly planning session with my companion and I made a promise to God to
change. I asked for guidance and to help me to be humble so that I may be more fully
in tune with His spirit so that my companion and I can change our area
completely. It was then after that prayer we were filled with a spirit of hope
and motivation that was immense. We had then conducted an effective weekly
planning and the following week we went from having 1 person to teach to 10
people to teach and all have interest in our church and are willing to learn.
It has been only 3 weeks but I have seen the blessing of giving our heart to
the Lord and what the Lord can do as we follow Him and just simply do as he
says.
Elder Godderidge
A few weeks ago we had a lesson with one of our members were
she invited all of her friends to come and watch a church movie and then teach
and testify about the message in the movie. This time there were 8 boys that
showed up and all were interested and wanted to learn more so we invited them
all to come the next week and we would teach more about the book of Mormon and
the church. The night before the next meeting we were planning for them and
decided that we needed to invite them all to be baptized. We also started a
fast so we could do all that we could to help these boys. After the lesion we
passed out cards to everyone and asked them to write down there answer to the
question we were about to ask on the card and then we invited them all to be baptized.
Five of them said yes and wanted to learn more. I know that that was an answer
to our fast and prayers. It was one of the most amazing things that has
happened on my mission so far.
Elder Hall
About 3 weeks ago the day of transfers we had a dinner
appointment with the N familia and we did the referral preset with them
by giving them a small card where they could write the information for the
person they wanted to refer. We had dinner and then asked them for a referral
the mother thought and couldn’t think of anyone but then someone came to mind
she gave us verbal directions to this family's house and we went and visited
them right after dinner. We talked to two of the children of the S family
and we returned the following day to do some service for them. The mother then
told us of some family trials that have been going on lately and invited us to
come back that coming Tuesday. On Tuesday we sat down with the kids and invited
them all to be baptized they all said yes! Since then they have been to a
baptism and are progressing really well! Tomorrow we have an appointment to go
to the visitor center with 6 of the family members.
This last Sunday we had a new
investigator come to church her name is D she came for the full three
hours. But left the building before we could talk to her about what she thought
of it. We then saw her the following Monday. She told us that she felt
something at church that she has never felt before we taught her about the Spirit and
about baptism and invited her to be baptized on the 24th of july she
was super excited and said yes with only one question what is everything that I
have to do to be baptized on that day! We went over this last Wednesday and taught
her again and invited her 8 year old daughter to be baptized on the same day
and D was really excited for her daughter to be baptized on the same
day.
Elder Feitz
A couple of months ago we were doing a mission fast. At the end of
the day before going to bed I was praying specifically for one of our
investigators, I, that she would recognize the answers to her
prayers. As I got up from kneeling and was crawling into bed with the little
bit of energy I had left the phone rang. I looked over and saw that it was
I calling, I answered and we chatted for a minute but I could tell that
she had been crying. I asked her what was wrong and tried to see what she
wanted. I don’t think that she had ever called before, just text. I asked what
she needed and waited for a minute. She paused and said, “Elder Feitz, I’m
ready to get baptized. I’ve had some stuff happen and I know that God is
telling me this is the step I need to take.” So I set up a date with her over
the phone and she reached it and got baptized along with her Mother on the same
day.
Elder Oryang
It was early May or late April (I really don't remember). We
were out working as usual. I guess I should inform you that the day before was
a really bad one. No one was home, appointments fell through, etc. That's just
the life of a missionary though, right? Well that night we prayed to our
Heavenly Father for a better next day. Next day comes we go out to work, our
first appointment falls through (or so it seems). We run into him on the way to
our bikes & we have a wonderful lesson as well as set a date with him. Our
next visit was in the same building. It was just a drop by, which means that it
wasn't set with a part member less active family. We knock & they're not
there. So we return to unlock our bikes & we receive a phone call from the
same people we just tried. they tell us that they're five minutes away & if
we would be able to come over to teach them!!! We had an amazing lesson with
them as well. later on that night before we head to our apartment, we give a
prayer of thanks to our Heavenly Father and ask for one more miracle before we
head in. On the way home, we take a route that we've never taken before (why I
have no idea) & we're stopped by someone. It turns out to be a member who
has a niece who isn't a member. He asked if we could come back & teach her,
& also help him quit drinking so that he could return to activity. It was
awesome!! We gave him as a referral to the zone leaders, because he lived in
their area, but that & many other experiences are moments that I'll
remember & cherish for life.
Elder Robbie Hernandez
- My companion and I were teaching a single mother and her
three kids and they had accepted a baptismal invitation, and as their date grew
closer for them to be baptized, they began to become a little bit shy and
started to slow down their progression and commitment keeping. My companion and I were weekly planning and
then we received a call from the mother telling us that she needed to talk to
us. I was really nervous when she said
this because I could already guess what was coming, and sure enough, she asked
if she could postpone the baptism to a later date. My companion and I were pretty disappointed
because we had worked so hard and come to love this family and we knew without
a doubt that they needed to be baptized on the date that we had prayed about. So we asked her if we could stop by later
that day and discuss the concerns face to face.
She agreed, and my companion and I knelt to pray to our Heavenly Father
for his help with the situation. I
remember pouring my heart out to our Father in Heaven pleading with Him to
guide us as we were going to speak to her, and asking Him to reaffirm to us if
the date we had prayed about was the right date. We went over and spoke with the mother, and
found out she was having difficulties with some of her friends and that she
didn’t want to lose her friends. I
remember immediately instead of feeling disappointed in her, or mad that she
didn’t want to get baptized, I was overcome with a feeling of love and
understanding for her and her family, and in that moment, my companion and I
began to bear our testimonies and began to teach her important principles of
trusting in her Savior and of faith. We
invited her to pray when we left, and when we got home that night, she called us
telling us that she wanted to be baptized the next day. It was amazing to feel the Lord guiding us
and giving us the needed feelings of love and understanding in that moment to
listen and then say what we needed to tell her and her family.
Elder Sanderson
In my 2nd
area, we had a lot of work. There was
always something to do. We even coined a
new phrase: Never a bad day in
Koreatown! However during my 2nd
transfer there, our work died. Almost
all of our investigators dropped us. Of
course we kept working and looked to increase our teaching pool again. But nothing worked. Finally we got upset enough that we looked at
the ward list and called every single member in our area to ask if we could
come over for a visit-maybe we would find something with the members. One member, C, was a 26 year
old, but still a teacher in the Aaronic priesthood. “Ok,” we thought, “he’s probably less active
and who knows if he really wants anything to do with the church.” But we called him. He said we could come over later that
week. Again we didn’t even know if we
should bother trying, but we did set an appointment. So out of courtesy we showed up on the set
day. Much to our surprise, he was
married and had a newborn baby, less than a month old. His wife, S, wasn’t a member. We talked about families. We talked about why they are so important and
that God prepared a way for families to be together forever. It was the most powerful lesson about
families I had had up to that point.
Then we asked her if she wanted to learn more, and she said yes! She said that she was Baptist, but she didn’t
mind learning. The next lessons were
focused on her little girl, and how they could be a forever family. She loved it.
She accepted the invitation to be baptized. That didn’t make her life easy. She still had her struggles, but she got
baptized 2 months later! A lot of
C’s family came to her baptism from out of town. Her father in law even baptized and confirmed
her. The weekend of her baptism and
confirmation was one of the best weekends of my entire mission.
Sister Green
One afternoon in our area we went to go find a less active
member in our ward that we have previously tried to see a few times
before. We have been unable to ever get
in contact with her or even get into her building she lives in. About the
second week in June we went to go try again and still we could not get an
answer from the call box, but a janitor in the building let saw us and let us
in! which is a miracle to begin with just to get into the building. We then
were unsure of the room number that the member lived in so we decided to just
knock the door that matched the number on the call box. A woman answered and we
asked her if she was who we were looking for. She told us “no” then asked who
we were. We quickly introduced ourselves and asked her if there is anything we
could do for her. She just looked at us for a moment and said “really?” we said
“Yes! As missionaries we love to help people.” She then started to cry and told
us how she has tendonitis and can barely stand at all so she has been unable to
unpack her apartment that she recently moved into and she can’t even stand long
enough to make herself dinner. So we offered to help and she invited us in.
Continually thanking us while we were there. We left her home not really
teaching her anything specific but told her we would come back. The following
time we returned we talked to her about the Book of Mormon. She was very open
to listening to us and willing to have us back another time to teach her more!
I know that our Father in Heaven leads us to people. As missionaries we don’t
always know what his children need but he does and he will help them through
his servants. I know we were in the right place at the right time, led by the
Lord to where to go. God is good and he loves us and will lead us as we lives
righteously and work diligently!
Elder Hough
In the Lunada Bay
area we had a part-member family who was deciding to come to church. The wife
wanted to be baptized, and it was decided that the husband would be best to do
it. The problem was, that it was the husband who was having the most concerns
with the gospel. He was an astrophysicist who was now a teacher, and had a very
analytical way about investigating the church rather than spiritual. This
slowed things down quite a bit. He would read and pray, but he was unable to
recognise an answer. One week, after much fasting and prayer, we got an answer!
We needed to take him teaching with us! So thats what we did. We figured that
in a teaching position rather than a student position, he would be pushed to
rely on the Spirit more. and that's exactly what happened. After the
appointment, he told us that he felt an unexplainable love for the person we
were teaching, and he realized the Spirit was talking to him the whole time. It
was a miracle because it did a lot for his progression and testimony, and his
wife is even closer to baptism.
ELDER HASLEM
A few weeks ago I arrived at the home of an investigator of one of
the people in my district to conduct a baptismal interview. This particular
family has been meeting with the missionaries quite a bit over for some time.
The father and oldest son were baptized six months ago; however the wife and
daughters have taken much more time. The interviewee was the oldest daughter.
She was very ready for the next step, and saw several miracles which led toward
her conversion. However, during her interview I felt the distinct impression
that I should also interview the mother, and had every intention to do so, but
after the paper work was filled out we were late to our next appointment. Once again I felt the Spirit prompt me to
interview the mother; obeying I sat down
next to the mother and began to talk to her saying “you know, I’m already here,
it’d be really easy to just take care of your interview too…. Eventually she consented
saying “lets just see if I can even pass the interview”. At the end of the
interview the Holy Ghost was very strong and she mentioned she felt that it was
the right thing to do, and on Sunday we had two baptisms in place of one!
Elder Ursenbach
Elder Williams and I were biking along the
sidewalk when we saw a car about 5 feet from us clip the curb and get a flat
tire, we were able to help the lady who was driving get the car into a parking
lot and change the tire for her. She told us that her friend had just joined
the church last year. She gave us her address and phone number and told us
she’d like to meet with us. It was amazing to see the Lord’s hand direct us to
exactly the right place at exactly the right time.
Sister Hall
We were walking through our area and going to a lesson,
contacting everyone and we saw these people on their porch. We weren’t sure if
we really wanted to talk to them because the man wasn’t wearing a shirt. But we
told ourselves that we need to talk with everyone. We walked up to them and
talked to them about the Book of Mormon.
Then just randomly (after noticing that he himself was feeling awkward
because of the lack of a shirt) they asked us to come inside. Therefore we went inside and started
teaching. We talked about the restoration and then had the father of the house
to kneel and say the closing prayer. He needed to be taught then he did. It was
a beautiful prayer. We found afterwards
that a month ago her brother got killed in El Salvador and they really needed
to know about eternal life. We stayed and taught then about that then they
asked about church. We committed them to baptism with a date, and to go to
church.
Elder Ridl
I had only been in the field for 2 months, still in my first
area, still with my trainer. Our area was struggling. It was difficult to find
people to teach, people who were willing to listen to what we had to say or
accept our help. My companion and I decided to prayerfully consider where we
should go to find our Heavenly Father’s lost sheep. When we got in to our
apartment one night, we prayed to know where we should go. We thought about it going to sleep that night
and continued to think about it the next morning as we studied. We decided to
go to a street where my trainer and I nor any companionship had gone in some
time. We went that day and started knocking. About a half hour into it, we
knocked on a door and the person who came to the door answered as if expecting
us. She was a member who had been out of contact with the church for over five
years and had been going through some hard times. She had prayed the day before
we came and asked God to send someone who could really help her. She took us
knocking on her door as the answer to her prayers. It was the greatest blessing
I have seen on my mission where my companion and I blessed the lives of another
by being the answer to her prayer.
Elder Ewing
A couple months ago my companion and I were both praying for
a family we could teach. We were praying that we could meet somebody and have a
miracle. We continued working in the area, and after a few appointments that
fell through we didn’t know exactly what to do. When we got back into our car
we got a phone call from our bishop. He informed us that “There is a less
active sister in the ward, Sister B,” and asked, “If we would go over
there and give her a visit.” So right after we hung up the phone we got over
there to see her non-member husband answer the door and he welcomed us in with
open arms. We started talking with the both of them, and he told us about how
missionaries had been coming by for years but he wouldn’t hear them out. To
make a long story short he had some things happen in his life that humbled him,
and he was now open and willing to hear about the gospel. We extended a
baptismal date, and now today he is a fully active member and just recently
received the Aaronic Priesthood and his son is set to get baptized later this
month. The Lord answered our prayers through close relationships with Ward
Leaders and referrals.
Sister Nibley
In just the past few weeks, my
testimony of the changing power of
Jesus Christ’s Atonement, has increased.
We were teaching a 19 year old named J. In the
beginning, she had a boyfriend that was keeping her from progressing and
keeping the law of chastity. She was not taking us seriously, and would lie
about reading. She would just smile and nod her head when we explained
something or shared our testimonies. She said, “I know it’s true, too”. But she
didn’t. At one point, she admitted that her reason for meeting with the
missionaries and agreeing to baptism was because she lived with a member family
and felt obligated.
Needless to say, we were at a
stopping point with her and didn’t know where to go. Her baptism date for June
19th came up quickly. She was nowhere near ready. We discussed with
her the reason for changing it to July 3rd. We didn’t know it at the
time, but she was really disappointed about the change. Because of this, and
the fact that two weeks wasn’t very long, she began to take it all more
seriously. She was reading! And when she didn’t read, she actually told us the
truth about it. We were pleased with her progress, but I was still hesitant
about her being baptized soon.
J went on a weekend trip
to Utah with the member family with whom she lives, and while she was gone, we
were nervous about losing the time to teach her. I expressed my concern to my
companion, and she helped me through it. Thanks to my companion, who encouraged
me to take a leap of faith with her, the last week before her baptism
was amazing! My companion said, “Maybe she will come back from her trip completely
different”. I thought, “Yeah right”. But guess what? When she had come back,
J had read the assigned chapter, had taken two pages of notes, and
fluidly explained everything to us about the reading. I was astounded!!! We saw
a big change in her. This continued to happen on everyday of the week, that she
was more open to the Spirit, more able to answer our questions, and more
prepared to make the covenant of baptism. J was baptized that Sunday. It was one of
the most beautiful services I have ever been to! I couldn’t stop smiling! It
was just so sweet. So sweet. She stood up to share her testimony and it was
unbelievable. The presence of the Spirit was strong, and it was confirmed in my
heart that that was the right step for her in her life at this time.
Elder Grover
The most
recent miracle I have seen on my mission has been with the past mission wide
goal of baptizing one person in the month of June. I had been in the Compton
area for several months and me and my companions had been working hard but just
couldn’t seem to find anyone who would progress to baptism. I was getting
pretty down and then president presented the goal. So I decided to put my faith
in and fast for at least one baptism. After that we started to see miracles
with our investigators. One in particular was an eighteen year old boy who just
had an overnight change in desire. He began to read daily and have great
questions he had never had before and we were able to baptize him the last
Sunday in June! It was truly a miracle that I know came through diligence and
faith in the lord.
Elder Porter
We have been teaching a family where the father and a brother are
members who have been baptized for 6 months or so. We were mainly focusing on the mother, and
the two sisters. The mom and one of the
sisters got baptized 2 weeks ago. Their
brother hadn’t really been too interested before and rarely sat in on
lessons or came to church. But upon
seeing the changes in his family and the decision that his mom and sister had
taken to get baptized, he changed. He
began to have desires to learn more.
When we taught him about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon again, it
made sense to him. He said that before
he didn’t think it could be true, but now he said he could feel it. It’s a testimony that Heavenly Father is
preparing the hearts of his children to hear the Gospel. Those that aren’t ready now, may be ready in
time. And those that weren’t ready a few
years ago might be ready now. It’s
important to be patient and “Be an example of the Believers” (1 Timothy 4:12)
Elder Goll
We were earlier to an appointment with a
former investigator than we expected so we tracted around her house. Next door
there was a teenager that told us that he knew all about our church that he
used to go and that there was a member of our church living next door and
pointed to our former investigators house. We told him that it was actually a
former and not a member and he said not her. Her cousin she lives in the back.
We went okay we’ll go talk to her then. We knocked on the door and it turns out
that she was indeed a member sort of. Her records didn’t exist in the church
and her bishop had told her that week to get in contact with the missionaries
in her area to help her be baptized. We just happened to be those missionaries.
We had no idea about her or her situation but through a series of events we
came in contact with her and help her be baptized again into the lord’s
kingdom.
Elder Simmons
Miracles happen all of the time. Well my whole mission I have been baptizing
individuals and never families. I never
thought much about it until this past mission goal where we decided to “Focus
on the Fathers”. One way we were going
to “Focus on the Fathers” was to find fathers (head of households) and teach
and baptize them along with their families.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is meant to strengthen and unify
families. Through the priesthood
families are sealed for eternity. Why
have I not been finding and baptizing families.
This month I was determined to find a family to baptize. The first thing I did was hit my knees and
ask my Heavenly Father for help. Then I
went into nice neighborhoods and started knocking on doors. After a week’s effort we had found 3 new
families to teach. If we desire the Lord
will bless us. Half way through the
month we had no one with baptismal dates and we did not think we were going to
baptize in June. My companion and I
continued to pray knowing the Lord would provide. A week before the end of the month one of the
families we were teaching decided to get baptized. It was amazing. They had a change of heart so quickly. It is amazing to see the Lords hand in the
work as we put ourselves out there and work. Work, work, work it is an eternal
principle.
Elder Roundy
One of the coolest miracles I’ve seen just came yesterday.
We were teaching an old man who has been our investigator for
about a month now. He is in his 70s and has trouble hearing and until recently
had trouble seeing. The first time we taught him he told us he wouldn’t be able
to read the book of Mormon because the letters were far too small. We kept on
going and through the blessing of God, we found a beat up old magnifying glass
which was given to us by another investigator.
We gave it to him and he found that with great struggle he could see the
Book of Mormon well enough. So for a week he read that way. One day we went by and he returned the
magnifying glass to us and told us he had found his glasses, which surprised
all 3 of us because he hadn’t even remembered that he had glasses before. And
this time he got out his book of Mormon, opened it up, and read a verse in 1 NE
5 without his glasses and without anything else to help him. He broke down
crying afterwards and said that God had healed his sight. I know it’s because
of the amazing power of the Book of Mormon and that because he kept his
commitment to read, God blessed him.
Elder Molinaro
Miracles can be seen every single day, both large and
small. Often times we do not realize
what is occurring until after it has happened and we reflect on a specific
situation. The hand of the Lord cannot
be seen in the moment but it becomes quite obvious in retrospect. This describes the miracle that my companion
and I were privileged enough to be a part of with a man named U. He was member referral from a
member family that he recently married into, however he was always tied down
with work as so many are and never was able
to give attention to things of God in his life because of his relentless work
schedule. One day, we went over to this
member’s home for a dinner appointment, and surprisingly, U was there. As he came into the room, something was
visibly different about him. It was a
large cast on his left arm. After
talking to him for a minute or two we came to find out that while working the
day before, he was helping a co-worker lift a heavy bar around some
machinery. His co-worker accidently
dropped the bar, causing Uriel to take all the weight himself and his finger
was forced into a machine that proceeded to break his finger in several
places. Without giving the rather
graphic details, we will just say that his finger was badly broken and would
need surgery to be fully healed. This
caused him to go onto workers comp and he has been off of work for the last two
months. He has had surgery and a lot of
physical therapy, and this has given us the chance to be able to work with and
teach him about the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Elder Lee
While weekly planning, my companion and I were taking a look
at the 13 steps President Clayton invited us to live “religiously”. We decided
to read thru all of them and we even took the time to read the first of all
bullet points which is Pray for Inspiration. Normally we as missionaries take
this step as a self-explanatory thing but as we read we discovered it gave us certain
tips of what to pray for. One tip was “pray specifically for your investigators
and have the faith to ask Heavenly Father to give them a desire to read, pray,
go to church, etc.” We decided to give it a try and we prayed specifically for
our investigator R to be blessed with a desire to be baptized and to meet
with us more than once a week. R lives in a member’s home and we were holding one of our weekly movie
nights at this member’s home where we watch church films and invite
investigators to attend. After the film, Sister S the owner of the home
told us to talk to R because he had something he had to say to us. After
the crowds dispersed and we were alone with R and Sister S, we sat
down and talked with us. R told us that that night at about 3:30 in the
morning he had a dream that he was baptized by my companion and that his mother
who had passed away was there watching. He told us his mother had passed away a
few years ago and on her death bed she made Richard promise that he would get
back into religion. He told us “I want to get baptized and I want to meet more
than once a week.” This was a direct answer to our prayer. I know that because
we had the faith to follow the suggestions the First Presidency has outlined in
PMG that Heavenly Father was willing to generate a desire for our investigator
to want to change his life. I have a stronger testimony of God’s willingness to
answer our prayers and know that if we put energy and faith into this work,
success can be the only outcome.
Sister Hanselman
Just yesterday, my companion and I had decided to go
contacting on the West Los Angeles College campus. We had never been there
before and didn’t know what to expect. As we got to the campus, we discovered
there was no summer semester going on, but there were several middle school and
high school education camps going on. We decided to stay anyway and see who was
on the campus. We talked to 2-3 people on our way up the campus, but once we
reached the grounds there wasn’t a soul in sight. My companion didn’t see how
this was going to be productive, but I felt we should keep going. Then, up
ahead, we could see a leg sticking out from behind a corner. As we rounded the
corner, a large black man was sitting there in the shade. We introduced
ourselves and he asked if we were going to be students. We explained we weren’t
in school right now because we are missionaries for the Church. Come to find
out, he was the Dean of the college. We invited him to learn more about the
Book of Mormon and he said he already had his own copy! We asked if he’d read
it, he said yes. We asked if he had prayed about it, he said no, why would he
pray about it? What a great question! We then had the chance to explain the
promise that comes with the Book of Mormon and invited him to pray. He gave us
his office number and said we could come by again and talk more. We continued to find people, many of them
parents waiting for their kids to finish their first day of camp. What a great
chance to find families! I’m so grateful that the spirit was able to bring a
confirmation that we should stay on that campus, even though it didn’t look
promising at first glance. Heavenly Father knows where His children are, even
on a deserted college campus.
Elder Hallan
My experience is simple, and I would like to keep it brief.
For the last three weeks, since I came into the field, I have been praying to
find questions to ask people, both to engage them in conversation, and to get
them active in lessons. It is something I really struggle with. This morning I
decided to compile a list. After twenty minutes of doing so, and after getting
a pretty good list going, I started running out of steam. It was then that
Elder Wilson pulled an article out of his binder and asked me if I had ever
read it. I said I had not, and he expressed that he had never read it either,
begging the question as to why he had it in the first place, and why he would ask
me if I had read something to which he himself was oblivious. From this article
came over 40 inspired questions, as well as suggestions on responses.
Prayers are always answered.
Elder Western
We are teaching a family of five
in Long Beach. The family has been and is prepared to receive the gospel. For
the last year they have been doing their best to save money for a green card.
It was just recently that the parents saved enough to buy the card. Doors have
been opening for them over the last few months and I know they are beginning to
recognize a part of that is, because of the gospel in their lives. We could
only teach them on Wednesdays before, but now they allow us to come anytime.
The mom and her two daughters came to church for the first time last
week! We committed the mother and 8 year old to baptism and they accepted. Our
lesson recently at their home was a review of everything that happened at
church, the daughter said, “I prayed like you told me to and I had a tingly feeling
come over me”. What did you pray for? “I asked for protection and about
baptism. It was the same feeling I had in church”. What was even more exciting!
Our lesson early in the week was on Faith and we watched finding Faith in Jesus
Christ. Well, after we left, the mom began cooking, but the father and daughter prayed then, watched the movie again. I asked the daughter, what did your Dad think?
The father said, “he felt something.” They talked after the movie and said the
same feeling came over them.
Elder Maddox
In my last area we were walking down the street on our way
to try and visit a less active member.
Because it’s hard to find parking places in LA, we parked a few blocks
away from their home. As we walked, we
passed a man who was working on his car.
I thought to myself “We should talk to him.” We were in a bit of a rush
because we were behind, so we kept going.
It turned out that the family we were trying to visit wasn’t home, so on
our way back to the car we passed the man again. This time I felt the same thing “we should
talk to him” so we stopped. He didn’t
seem terribly interested until we brought up the Book of Mormon. When we showed him the Book of Mormon he
asked us, “what is ‘Mormon’?” We proceeded to explain that Mormon was an
ancient American prophet. He then shared
with us that he had only heard of the word Mormon once before. He was from Mexico and grew up in another
religion, but, rarely attended. When
people would ask him what religion he was a part of he would tell them none. People would then say, “Then you’re
atheist?” ”No,” he would reply. “Ah,
then you must be a Mormon,” they would reply.
We continued to talk to him about the church and the emphasis on
families. He really liked that. He shared with us his desire to be a
righteous father. We began teaching
him. He came to church. He has a baptismal date, and spoke with his
wife in Mexico on the phone and she told him that she will follow him wherever
he goes. I’m glad I listened to the
promptings of the spirit and spoke to him.
Sister Flake-
We were feeling a little discouraged one night, having just
finished ward correlation and not having anyone progressing. My companion
looked at me and showed me her planner that was full of potentials from the
area book. She asked me which one I felt
we should go to. I did not know the area, or know the language but I chose a
specific name and we went to contact them. A man opened the door part way. My
companion said a small sentence like, “do you know God”, in Spanish. The man
looked at us and asked us to wait a moment while he asked his wife if we could
come in. When we entered the home, we saw the teenage daughter sitting with an
8 day old baby in her arms and the mother and three other children standing or sitting nearby.
There was such a peaceful spirit there. We taught them the message of the
restoration. When we were almost done, the mother confessed to us that she was
a member and had been baptized years earlier but soon after had started living
with the dad of their four children. She agreed to say the prayer before we
left. After saying “Heavenly Father”, she broke down in tears. The spirit was
so strong in the room. We left their
home rejoicing. A little over a month
later the family was baptized. The
mother and children later told us that the father would never talk with
religions people. He would never listen to them, and did not like them.
Something that night impressed him so that he almost immediately let us in.
Elder Hernandez Aguilar-
In the beginning of this month my companion and I got a
really good experience with the spirit. All our appointments fell through and we
did not have more back-ups for that time so we decided to pray and ask
inspiration in order to receive the guidance of the Spirit. My companion said
the prayer and afterwards we took a moment of silence. We were quiet around 2
or 3 minutes and then a name came into my mind. That name was a potential
investigator so we decided to visit him. When we arrived to the place we said a
prayer again and there was a man looking at us, so when we got out of the car
he called us and he started to talk about his family with us and he expressed
us his admiration for the work that we do because he said that we are an
example for all the people. He talked about his challenges and the problems
that he is having in his family and he invited us to come over his house and
have a lesson with him. I’m really grateful for this experience because through
this experience I learned that our Heavenly Father is always with us in this
work and I know if we ask his guidance and his Spirit we are going to receive
according the desires of our heart. That’s his promise and he fulfills his
word.
Elder Ferrin-
The experience that
comes to mind at the moment was the finding experience we had about 2 weeks
ago. We have had a hard time lately finding “the chosen” to teach and help them
receive the blessings of baptism. We decided this day to go and try to find a
former at home. It turns out they didn’t answer the door so we continued by tracting
about 60% of the south side of the street afterwards. The street was split by a
railroad track dividing the north and south side. We crossed the railroad track
and decided to knock two more doors besides going back to the car. We knocked
the first door and the people weren’t interested. The house was in front of an
apartment complex so we walked in the back and knocked the first door possible.
A little girl (about 4 years old) answered the door and her mom immediately
yelled at her. She walked to the door and slammed it closed and then spanked
the little girl right there in front of us. After that I was pretty sure she
was going to kick us off her porch. However, she asked us who we were and we
started to explain that we were missionaries. She at first thought we were
Jehovah Witness. After the comment was made that we were “Missionaries from the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,” we heard a voice in the
background yell…..”Are you Mormons?” We immediately responded to the call and
said yes with a smile. They let us in the door and we had a first lesson at
that moment. It turns out her mother was dating a member of the church that
lived in Utah. He had shared with her the gospel message and she has always
wanted to be a member. We invited her to be baptized and she accepted. This
experience was one of the greatest experiences I’ve had so far on the mission.
Seeing the guiding hand of the Lord, lead us to her door, so they could receive
that message the day they were all together as a family. I’m so grateful to be
a missionary to see the greatness of our message touch the lives of people we
don’t know. The message we carry is true and I know it with all my heart. I
pray that each and every single one of Gods children will one day have the
chance to hear about the gospel and I do so in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Elder Patten-
While I was serving in the Wilshire Park area we had an
investigator named L. As we were teaching her she accepted everything we
taught and absolutely embraced it! When it came time to teach the word of
wisdom we were a little apprehensive, knowing that she had a problem with
smoking and drinking coffee. At one appointment we left Ether 12 with her to
read. We left this section so that when we returned and followed up we would be
able to tie faith in to following the word of wisdom. When we asked how her
reading went she got tears in her eyes and talked about verse 27. She said that
as she read that the Spirit told her that her weakness is smoking and she
needed to quit! We went on to explain the word of wisdom and she gladly
accepted and committed to live it! Within one week she wasn’t smoking anymore!
A few weeks before her baptismal date we asked her about her coffee drinking.
She said that she stopped that as well!! It was amazing to me to see how the
Spirit is the real teacher. We are just there to facilitate and guide people to
be able to receive personal inspiration.
Elder Loli-
This one day we had an appointment with an investigator. She
was going though some really hard times.
A lot of her friends and family took her kindness for weakness that put
her in a tough situation. I remember her crying so much it was hard for her to
speak. My companion and I look at each
other not knowing what to say. I quickly said a prayer in my heart for this
sister and asked Heavenly Father to please give me the words to say and what to
do. After my desperate prayer I knew
that scriptures would bring her comfort.
I remember very clearly every concern she shared with us was answer with
verses from the Book of Mormon. It was as if the scripture were talking to her,
replying to her questions. She slowly stopped crying and after letting her know
that her Father in Heaven knew exactly what she was going through a smile
emerged. Soon she couldn’t stop
laughing. I know as we do our part in searching the scriptures and trusting in
the Lord He will always answer.
Elder Skousen-
The experience that comes to mind most for me was a finding
experience. We had been visiting a less active member and when we came out my
companion’s bike tire was missing. We had another appointment that was close by
in the area. After discussing what to do
we decided just to walk to our next appointment, and either take the bus home
or call a member and see if they could pick us up. While we were walking to our
next appointment we met a man standing outside his apartment who asked us what
had happened to my companion’s tire, why we were walking etc. We told him how
the tire had been stolen and he took pity on us and told us to come back in an
hour because he thought he had a spare that may fit the bike and he was willing
to give us. So we came back an hour later and talked to him and he didn’t have
a tire but he gave us a bus pass someone else had given him earlier that day
because they took pity on him, we were grateful and gave him our number on a
mormon.org card, one of the new ones, and told him to call us if he ever needed
anything from us. A few weeks passed and
we received a call from him because he was having a hard time so we were able
to talk to him, begin teaching him, and set a baptismal date with him, he is
still working on getting baptized. This is such a miracle to me because we
would not have been able to meet him any other way. He was prepared to go
through the hard times in his life by meeting us, and also prepared to accept
the gospel by going thru hard times.
Elder Howe-
When I was with Elder Bingham, we knocked into the home of a
family of Former Investigators. We
hadn’t realized that they lived there, but both Elder Bingham and I felt that
we should go tracting that day. We
started to teach them, and at first the wife and daughter were progressing very
rapidly, but the father didn’t want to leave his old church. We were thinking of how best to help him, but
every time we visited he would hide, try to argue, or just listen in on our
lessons with the wife. It got to the
point that both his wife and daughter had testimonies of the Gospel and we set
a baptismal date for two weeks later.
Our Ward Mission Leader decided to invite everyone (including this
family) to the Temple Visitor’s Center, and the father decided to come with his
family. We watched the Joseph Smith
movie, and his heart was touched by the spirit.
He consented afterwards to learn more from us, and he progressed in two
weeks to baptism. We later learned that
if he wasn’t baptized with his family, he wouldn’t have let his daughter be
baptized. It was amazing to see how the
Lord prepared this family and helped our Ward Mission Leader and us to know how
to help this family. The Lord knew
exactly what they needed and guided us to know how to help them progress.
Elder Jones-
About 8 months ago I had a cool experience. I was with my
companion and there was this trailer park where my companion and I thought that
somebody was ready. We knocked and talked to everyone there in that
neighborhood. We found a lot of a strong people with a lot of potential there
but nobody that was ready to be baptized in that month. So one day we knocked
more of that trailer park without any luck and we got on our bikes and began to
leave. As we were leaving we saw a man
down the street and started yelling to him in Spanish. As we were yelling in
Spanish, a Mexican woman opened her window and said, “ You guys speak Spanish?
My brother in law has been looking for you for a long time and wants to know
where the church is. Come in.” So we walked in and began talking to her brother
in law who was actually a recent convert of the church and the Mexican woman
and her husband sat in while we talked to her brother in law. It turns out that
the Mexican woman and her husband were very interested and wanted us to come
over and teach them. They ended up being baptized a month later and are still
active in the church. It was truly a miracle to see the Lord putting us in the
right path at the right time so that two of His children could hear His Gospel.
Elder Conlin-
Well in my last area in Koreatown we were working to learn
the new part of our area that had been added that transfer. We saw a lot of
potential in the new southern half. When
we were in our first week we saw that the previous Elders had received a member
referral for a part-member family. The father A, was not a member, but had
gained interest seeing the Elders work with his less-active wife who usually
attended the English ward. In my first
transfer there we visited them very inconsistently because of the conflicting
work schedule he had. My companion and I prayed and planned for him until one
day when he had really felt the Spirit in a Book of Mormon reading commitment
we had left, that he decided we should meet more often. As we continued to
meet, and he kept his commitments he gained an even greater desire to join the
Lord’s true church. One big hurdle that he had to overcome was his addiction to
socially drinking alcohol. One day we committed him to stop, but a couple of
days later he relapsed. He felt remorse for his action and promised to never
drink again. He did stop and was baptized 2 weeks later, in a baptismal service
attended by family from all over the state of California. He became converted,
and in a year plans to attend the temple to be sealed to his wife for eternity.
Hermana Bodily-
One night as I
was working at the Visitors’ Center, a group of four sixteen year old boys came
in. It came out that they were not LDS, and that two of them did not believe in
God. They began to ask me a barrage of questions, with topics ranging from the
Word of Wisdom to the Ten Commandments, from the Book of Mormon to eternal
life. I really had no idea how to answer so many questions effectively and with
the Spirit, so I would ask what they thought. At first, they were hesitant and
said, “We don’t know! That’s why we’re asking you.” Every time I wanted to
answer their questions, I would feel prompted to ask what they thought, and
then expound on their answers when necessary, using scriptures. One of the boys
was resistant throughout our hour tour and continued to ask defiant questions.
However! The other three listened carefully, and I felt the Spirit present as
they thought through our beliefs and why they are important to us. Our final
discussion had to do with agency and faith. The resistant boy asked, “If God
wants us all to return to him, why doesn’t he just tell us what we have to do?
Why doesn’t he make it work so that we all go back?” The other boy who didn’t
believe in God gave him his answer, saying, “If God told us everything we
needed to do to get back to him, we wouldn’t need to make choices, because we
would already know the outcome. We wouldn’t need faith, because we would know
that God is real and that we have to do what he asks.” As he spoke, the Spirit
was SO STRONG! It was incredible to see the change in three of the four boys as
the Spirit gave them information and testified to them.
Elder Ogden-
I want
to talk about the hand of the Lord in finding investigators. I’ve recently learned that where ever we go,
we are there for a reason. We went to
check a former investigator that we found in the area book a few months ago,
but she wasn’t super interested. We did
although set an appointment with her brother-in-law and we taught him a few
times; he was kind of interested but wasn’t making sure to make our
appointments. Every time that we went to
an appointment with him he was never there and we were getting really
frustrated because he lived at the very bottom of our area and we didn’t like
going down there. One day we went for an
appointment again, and he wasn’t there so Elder Serrano said, “Well, let’s find
out why we are here.” And we started to contact
people on the street. Right when we were
about to leave, we found a man who said “I’m baptized in your church!” We set an appointment with him to invite him
back to church.
We went
to his house and met a man out front who wondered if we are able to help
alcoholics and we told him that for sure we could help him out. Long story short, this man and his wife are
getting baptized this next Sunday after working past numerous challenges that
are just amazing to us. All of this
started with a chain of being led from person to person until we find the
person that is supposed to be baptized.
This experience has opened my eyes to realize that although the person
we are visiting isn’t giving us much success, that person leads to something
and someone who is ready.
Elder Muir-
An experience that I have had on my mission where I have
seen our Heavenly Father guiding missionary work has been one day we were on
our way to check a referral and on our way to check this referral we talked to
a gentleman named F. And we shared the introduction to the Book of Mormon
with him and he was pretty interested. Well we came back for a return
appointment and he ended up not being there, but his daughter M was
there and we talked to her at the door for a minute about what the Book of
Mormon is. She showed a lot of interest and invited us to come back another
day. Well we came back and had a great lesson with her and she took the steps
and had the faith step by step to be baptized. She just wanted to do what Heavenly
Father wanted her to do. And so as she read the Book of Mormon she kept feeling
a lot of peace and comfort. And she took the steps necessary to be baptized. It
just goes to show that Heavenly Father is in charge of the work and that he is
guiding us to the people who truly are desirous to be baptized. I am thankful
that through talking to this gentleman (her father) we were guided to someone
else who was very desirous to follow Heavenly Father.
Elder Eguizabal-
Since
the first day that I have been in the mission I heard that there were always
miracles happening in this mission. One day my companion and I were walking
down the street and we happen to see a man seating in the steps of his house,
he was drunk and looked very worn out. He called unto us and we decided to go
and talk to him, he said that he wanted to stop drinking and that he felt that
we would be able to help him out, at that time we were running late for an
appointment and told him to stay put and that we would come back in an hour. We
did and he was there waiting, he told us that he had taken a shower to sober
off a little, we taught him about The Gospel of Jesus Christ and that he would
be able to change through it, he felt the spirit and decided to get baptized..
It was a struggle for him but he made it, and brought his family with him, now
they are all waiting to get sealed in the temple in the coming year. I know
that God prepares people and he had prepared him. I know this to be true, and
this is something that we are always looking
for, always out looking for those prepared.
Sister Alcantara-
A few transfers ago, we were looking for a less active
member. We had her written down to visit and for one reason or another, we
wouldn’t visit her. One day my companion and I felt the impression to visit
this member again and when we arrived, her 16 year old daughter opened the door
and was surprised to see us. She told us at that moment that she had written on
her facebook page the previous day and said “
I wish I could have a sign to come back to church. I want to go back to
church.” When I heard those words, I
knew that Heavenly Father had prepared her so that the missionaries could
arrive just in time . M. was baptized on June 4TH. Miracles do
happen and if we’re obedient, they arrive at the right time.
Elder Hardman-
Over
the short time that I have been serving my mission I have learned how the
gospel is truly centered on the families that God has given us. Every principle of the restored gospel
blesses and strengthens the foundation of the family! The purpose that we have
as missionaries is to share our testimonies of eternal families with everyone
that we come into contact with. Me and my companion were going through a period
of time were we were not teaching a family, just a lot of single people. We
prayed and prayed for a family that we could start teaching. A couple of weeks
went by and still no appointments with the family that we were praying for. As
we were knocking a new apartment complex we ran into a 16 year old boy who said
that we could come back another day and share our message. When we went back,
the boy was not there, but his father and the rest of his 4 kids were home and
willing to listen!! We are still teaching them, and they have a promising
future as a eternal family! I know that God has a plan for each and every one
of his children. We may not know when the blessings will come or when we will
see results of our faithfulness and hard work , but I know that they do
come!! It is my experience that there is
a purpose for everything that we go though. The Hope that God knows what He is
doing keeps me going and working hard!! “Always keep your face to the Son and
let the shadows fall behind you”!
Elder Jahng-
The experience that I would like to share is that of a
family who has made a great progression in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We began
teaching the father out of a finding experience that could only be described as
a tender mercy of the Lord. He was baptized five weeks later. The other greater
miracle came when this man’s wife was baptized earlier this year, something
that I would have never expected this early on in her journey. She was very
resistant and not willing to meet with us and go to church when we were
teaching her husband. In the end, we backed off in order to keep the peace in
the home. But through the Gospel, she was changed. She received countless
answers to her prayers and manifestations of the Spirit that told her that this
was the way, and the only one to return to Heavenly Father. I was able to
attend her baptism back in March and tears were in my eyes as she bore her
testimony and gave thanks to the many missionaries who had not given up on her
family. Today they are still strong and active. The husband is a counselor in
the Elders Quorum and they are preparing to go to the temple next year. I have
a strong testimony of the power of the Priesthood and the Gospel that makes
each and every one of us change, little by little sometimes, but for the better
nonetheless. I know that it is the Temple and the Celestial Kingdom in which we
must work towards and if we help our investigators do so, we will fulfill our
purpose as the Lord’s servant
