Foothills YSA: April 26 - May 2

Hi everyone!

Sister Gier is getting voted off the wonderful island of the Foothills YSA ward and my new companion is...Sister Loveless! No joke! I'm so excited to be with her again, although I'm going to miss Sister Gier a ton. I know I have so much to continue to learn from Sister Loveless! The Mission Sister Training Leaders (sister Assistants to the President) called us this morning and told me that the computer program they were using for transfers didn't catch that we've already been companions when they were arranging transfers with President Snow. It's totally meant to happen! Our technology glitches all the time for divine purposes.

Good news: Jordan got baptized! Collin and Ruby came and it went really well! He was bursting with joy after he was baptized, which is saying a lot because he had a really bad day prior to his baptism. He almost didn't make it to sacrament meeting in time to be confirmed, but he arrived at the last second with the member who was driving him! 

Elder Holland came and it was amazing! We all got to shake his hand (which he told us later was like a personal interview with him) and I honestly cannot tell you what Elder Holland looks like when he looks you in the eyes because his countenance is so bright! I was, in a sense, blinded by him. It was incredible! Revelation flowed during our time with him and Elder Robbins and my scriptures have many newly added notes :) the General Authorities use the same scriptures we have! What a surprise, right?

We had a huge miracle on Saturday: we gave an atheist a copy of the Book of Mormon...and she liked it! To start off, the timing was absolutely perfect: our dinner plans changed to an hour earlier and we adjusted our plans accordingly. We were walking to a potential investigator's apartment when we saw a woman named Stephanie walking into her apartment (the best people we talk with are the ones who are the hardest to start talking to!) and we said hi and asked if we could help with anything. Not our usual approach, but it was meant to be! She said, "Actually, it's funny that you two showed up right now. I have a painting in my trunk and I was just wondering how I'm going to get it inside! Would you mind helping me with it?" So we did, and after we brought it inside she asked us where we're from and how long we've been out, so we could tell that she was familiar with missionaries. Then she said, "all right, tell me the spiel. What have you got for me?" We asked her what she's heard so far and she told us she was raised Christian and forced to go to Christian schools and is completely atheist now. Somehow we started talking about where she worked and she also told us she needed a ride for a few days because she's having surgery and asked if we could drive her. We told her we had members who would! Later on we shared a bit about the Book of Mormon with her. It was amazing! We shared several verses and before we moved on to the next one, Stephanie would ask us to mark the page so she could read the verses later. We then prayed with her. I was holding the copy while we were sharing verses and I almost forgot to give it back to her after we prayed with her! I always carry a copy of the Book of Mormon around on top of my iPad case but wasn't carrying one that day because it was raining. So, out of habit, I put the copy we were going to give to her back with my iPad and we were about to leave when she said, "Hang on! Aren't you going to give that to me?!" You can tell someone sincerely wants to learn more when they don't forget about the copy of the Book of Mormon you're going to give them! Anyway, later that night she texted us and thanked us and told us she knew that it was more than coincidence that we met her that day. That is so true!

God's timing is perfect! I can't even begin to count how many times we just happened to be walking down the street when someone pulled up to their driveway and got out of their car or when someone is just having a bad day. I know that we truly are I instruments in God's hands and that we can "bring to pass much righteousness" when we follow the Spirit with every tiny prompting we get!

Have a fantastic week!

Love,

Sister Bedont