Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Foothills YSA: March 15-21

Hi everyone!

We've had an incredible week! SO many miracles happened! First of all, Dena was baptized! She's doing so great, even though she's been slammed with trials before and after her baptism. The presence of the Spirit at her baptism was undeniable! She was smiling from ear to ear after she received the gift of the Holy Ghost. She makes me so happy!

We were in a section of our area that we rarely go to because it's so far away and our appointment fell through. Before we left (this was right before dinner) we felt inspired to knock on a specific door, so we went up to the apartment and knocked and a really sweet, older lady named Maria opened the door and invited us in! We taught her about the Restoration of Christ's church. She had been reading the Bible and kept switching between different Christian faiths because she never felt satisfied. The Bible was really confusing for her because it's translated and interpreted so many different ways and she didn't know which interpretation of which translation was correct. When we taught her about the Book of Mormon and gave her a copy, she couldn't stop thanking us! The whole experience was amazing--she's like one of those elect investigators that you hear about in General Conference or at the MTC and when you hear about them, you think to yourself: "well that's nice, but where are the people like that around here?" Those people really do exist, and they really are "kept from the truth because they know not where to find it". I know that Heavenly Father uses us to reach out to those children that He has--our brothers and sisters--and if we don't listen to the Holy Ghost's promptings that will lead us to them, they'll have to wait even longer for the gospel because of our own doing. I really hope that never happens!

We had an amazing experience last week when we were going to try to stop by a referral from our bishop for a less-active member in a highly secure gated community. We weren't allowed to talk with anyone besides the residents of the house that we were going to visit. Before we got out of our car to walk to the house, we prayed that someone would approach us and ask about the gospel so we could teach them and they would become a new investigator. We went inside the less-active member's home and his nonmember girlfriend named Ashley happened to be there. Her brother had died around two years ago and her sister's eight month old baby died two weeks prior to us meeting her. I know that Heavenly Father really is aware of her and loves her and knows what she needs in order to feel comforted during this turbulent time in her life. We watched the new Easter video with her (again, I am amazed at how applicable these videos are to each individual who watches them) and testified of the Plan of Salvation. I know our prayer was answered that day, although it wasn't necessarily in the way we expected it to be answered!

Another really cool experience with some necessary background information: On Sunday we passed around our dinner calendar and an awesome member, Grace, asked us which day we wanted to have dinner with her. Another member suggested Tuesday, so she signed up for that day. When Tuesday rolled around, she called us and asked where we wanted to eat. We're all really indecisive, which makes it incredibly difficult to decide where we're having dinner. I was the one on the phone with Grace, so it was up to me because Grace refused to choose and Sister Gier was silent the whole time. So during this conversation with Grace, Taco Bell kept coming to mind. I am not a fan of Taco Bell. Eventually I chose to follow the prompting and announce that we were going to meet at Taco Bell. So we ate at Taco Bell (20 minutes later than we had planned, because Grace was caught up with a crazy situation at work) and relatively soon after we sat down, a lady who had been Skyping at one of the tables came up to us and asked if we were Mormon missionaries. She told us her name is Angelina and that she's dating a deaf LDS guy who wants to be married in the temple and she sincerely wants to learn more about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints so she could figure out what to do with her life--whether she wanted to convert and be sealed in the temple to this guy, or start dating someone else. She met with missionaries frequently in the past, but she just wasn't ready to progress then. The Spirit was so strong in our lessons at Taco Bell with her and Grace turned out to be the perfect fellowship for her! She's out of town visiting her boyfriend right now and we're planning to meet with her when she gets back later this week! I'm so glad Angelina had the courage to come up to us and that Heavenly Father lead us to Taco Bell that night! She works there, so we've been teaching her after her shift ends. My view of Taco Bell has been permanently changed...

Oh, and this is the first week of a new transfer! I'm staying in the Foothills YSA ward with Sister Gier. We are so glad we get to stay here!

I love you all! Have an awesome week!
Sister Bedont

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