Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Chapel Heights: June 28 - July 4

Happy Independence Day!

Two amazing girls named Katelynn and Elizabeth were baptized on Saturday! Katelynn is 9 and Elizabeth is 8. They've been so fun to teach! Everything went smoothly for their baptism! That's something we've started praying for too, and it works! Heavenly Father is looking out for us and the work is great!

Dena, who was baptized in March while I was serving in Foothills, moved up to my current area soon after she was baptized and Sister Campbell found her with her last companion. Sister Campbell taught her too because she also served in Foothills! We made it our focus to find her again and bring her back to church, since she's been less-active for a while. It was amazing to see her again! We had to drive down many streets to find her house,
but finally Sister Campbell found the one she'd met Dena at previously--and Dena was home! I'm so glad we were able to contact her!

We fasted as a companionship to find a new investigator again, like we did when we found Isaac and Matt who were baptized! An awesome member in our ward named Allan set up a lesson for us on Sunday night with a woman named Donna, who had taken all of the lessons from missionaries before and just didn't want to commit to coming to church. The lesson with her went so well! She soaked it all in and we could tell that she was beginning to realize that the message we were sharing was what she's been looking for all her life. We invited her to be baptized and she's thinking and praying about it!

It was pretty funny with Allan too, since he was less-active for a long time and has recently become active! He told us after church that he would buy us some slurpees before Donna's lesson because we were going to meet him at the gas station and walk over to Donna's home. We reminded him that he shouldn't do that because it's a commandment to keep the Sabbath day holy and explained that we don't buy things on Sunday. He said okay and we thought he understood! But when we pulled into the gas station parking lot, we saw him standing outside with two slurpees in hand. We mentally facepalmed and exclaimed to one another that we had just taught him a few hours ago not to do that, but then Allen told us one of the employees gave them to him. That was a relief, but it was still really awkward walking down the street holding slurpees on Sunday! I certainly don't want anyone to get the wrong idea.

I went on an exchange with a Spanish sister! It always amazes me how the Lord leads us right to the people we're supposed to teach. In the YSA ward, the majority of the people we met were young single adults. In the family ward, most of the people we talk with belong in the family ward! And in the Spanish ward, the same thing happens: nearly everyone we see speaks Spanish! All of these wards are in the same geographical location. It's incredible!

Dawn, Lonnie, and Alison are doing so well! Their baptism is coming up quickly and we're all excited for it! Their goal is to be sealed in the temple. That brings me so much joy! That's what we've been really focusing on in this zone, and it reminds me of what Elder Holland taught us at the mission conference about John 3--that people have to see the kingdom before they enter it! Penny, the member who came to our lesson, was perfect for them! They've had such a difficult time the past three years, and Penny could relate to them perfectly. Their faith is so strong! We taught them about tithing and they told us they were already paying their tithing!

On Saturday we were in an apartment complex and saw a guy upstairs heading inside and said hello to him from the ground. He asked us to come back on Sunday, so we did! We felt like we should get to the appointment 15 minutes early for some reason, so we went over immediately and saw him heading out the door with his family. They were on the way to the hospital because his wife was about to have a baby! I'm so glad we caught them, otherwise we probably would have dropped them because they missed the appointment and wouldn't be home
for the next few days! It's amazing how the Spirit works with us!

Also on Saturday, we felt like we should visit an investigator named Beth, whom we haven't been able to see for a while because she's been out of town. Beth is deaf but reads lips really well! She lives on the corner, so we parked as close as we could and as we were walking to her house, we went to one that somehow looked like it was on the
corner (but wasn't; don't ask me how!) and knocked on the door and found a young girl. Thinking that Beth's neighbors were visiting her, we asked for Beth and discovered that we were at the wrong house...but we taught that family and they want us to come back! We'll be meeting with them later this week

Mahogne is doing so well! At church she asked if she could come to class with us instead of going to the 14 and 15 year old class by herself, so Sister Campbell and I split and I went with Mahogne to her class. We're going to try to get her to girls' camp. I hope she can go! It starts next week. It would be so good for her!

We met a guy named CJ through an inspired knock. When we went back to his house for our return appointment, someone named Cheryl opened the door and told us he was asleep. Cheryl is so nice! She told us at first that she goes to church each week, but we taught her a little about the Book of Mormon and the gospel and later she told us that she's been really dissatisfied with her preacher and wants to come to our church! She also mentioned the light that we have--I love when others recognize it!

Tonight our zone is going to a park and we'll be splitting into groups that will either draw the Plan of Salvation in chalk and teach people about God's Plan of Happiness or write a word like "freedom" or "liberty" on a whiteboard and ask people what they think of when they see that word. We hope it will go well! It can be
tricky because we don't get to practice it in real life before it actually happens, so we're praying that the people there will be receptive to it!

Enjoy your week and ponder about how blessed we are to have the freedoms we enjoy!
Love,
Sister Bedont

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