January 21, 2013

Hello family and friends,

 

This week has been a fabulous week. It’s had its highs and lows. I had an amazing morning where I was receiving revelation through prayer for my investigators and what they needed to hear and what I should study for them. The Holy Ghost was so strong. I knew exactly what to study and I know I was being guided by the Holy Ghost. I love this work.

We met with the Pescadores a less active family. We talked to them about how they could have better family time. We talked about family home evening and watched “Family First.” They really enjoyed it. We gave them a copy of The Family: A Proclamation to the World. Sister Pescador loved it. She said she was going to find a frame and frame it.

We met with Sister Marksberry this week. She was offended by the last missionaries and told them never to come back and that they weren’t welcome at her house. She refused to pick up their calls after that. We went over with Sister Lofgreen, one of her friends in the ward. It went well and she told us to stop by whenever. She has started bringing her granddaughter to ward activities. Good things are coming because of Sister Marksberry.

We also met with Brother Harris and Sister Huber. It went really well. We talked about having faith in Jesus Christ. This is important because Sister Huber thinks that the stories of Jesus Christ are just fairytales. By the end she is open to praying to know if it is true, and if Jesus was a real physical person. Brother Harris told us that he had been praying to know if it was true and he said the transmission on his car went out. He wasn’t sure if that was an answer or not. We were able to discuss with him and he is going to pray about the church some more. When the end came they were more than willing to meet with us again. They are excited to learn more.

We met with the Brother and Sister Fugate and went over a talk about always looking up and directing our thoughts to God. They told us they weren’t going to make it to church this week. Brother Fugate told us that he wanted us to know that we were doing good things. That visiting people like him, even though he’s not coming to church right now, that we are doing good and helping him. He said, “I know I will come back.” He told us to always remember our efforts are not in vain. He made me feel like everything would be okay. His words strengthened me for what would come at the end of this week.

At district meeting this week Elder Petersen taught us the importance of getting our investigators to church. Our numbers for investigators coming to church has been especially low. His training worked, I was so excited for everyone to come to church so they could receive the blessings that come from attending church and remembering to keep the Sabbath day Holy.

We met with Brother and Sister Crail this week. We had a member, Sister Peters, come with us. It was perfect. Brother Crail and Sister Peters both served in the armed forces so they have that connection and respect for each other. Sister Peters bluntly asked why they haven’t been to church. We talked it over and they said that they would come to church if Sister Peters would give them a ride. She said that she would have to miss choir practice, but she would miss that if they need the ride. We called the night before to confirm that they were still planning on coming they were super excited to come.

We met with Sister Magallon and her family. The lesson went great. We had Sister Hales come to the lesson with us. She is a Beehive leader and Isabella, the oldest daughter, turns 12 at the beginning of next month. Sister Magallon was super excited for Isabella to be involved with the Young Women program. When we asked Sister Magallon about church and if she needed a ride, she told us that she convinced her friend Mariah to come and spend the night and she would drive all of them to church. She told us Mariah is less-active in our church and this way maybe she’d start to come back. We were so excited.

Sunday came and Sister Peters showed up without the Crails. She told us that Sister Crails mother opened the door and said that they stayed up too late last night and didn’t wake up. Sister Crails missed choir and told a young woman in our ward she wouldn’t have room in her car to drive her also. We were so upset that they choose not to come.

We waited and the Magallons never showed up either… We were devastated. We taught them what they needed to know and helped set up everything they need help with to make it and they chose not to come. They lost out on a lot of blessings. It was a very tough and emotional day. We had a lot of members give us words of encouragement.

We have been so busy this week we have to find time to eat! Haha it's amazing!

Love, Sister Malinda Bennett