Hey y'all,
This week was so great and just packed with miracles!!
We got a phone call on Monday afternoon from Sheryl saying that she had prayed about baptism and wants to set a goal for this Saturday the 19th along with our investigator Shane. He was really nice about it and said that a joint baptism would be all the better! Please keep them in your prayers this week as it always seems to be like herding cats the week of the baptism haha. It wouldn't be rewarding if it wasn't though, so bring it on!
We have been able to meet with both Sheryl and Shane several times in the last week and they are both doing so great! What Shane told me the other day about being a monumental key in his life to understanding and keeping the word of wisdom really touched my heart and there are no words that could describe the peace and joy that I felt. Along with that, an African American member and convert of about 20 years, Sister Dade, invited us, her daughter/son, and Sheryl over for diner last Friday. We were able to share conversion stories and hear how Sister Dade was invited over for dinner at a member's home with the missionaries and ever since has been an active member. It was soo cool, because she remembers how she came to know the truth and is doing the same for others! It was really special. Sheryl also shared with us that she had a dream years ago of two young men in white shirts and ties that she didn't recognize then waving at her as they passed on a train and beckoning her to come aboard. She said she never knew who we were until now, but it was like she had seen us before, and that was where. That was so powerful and amazing to hear how her conversion story has started.
Another miracle story was while on exchanges with a couple other missionaries in the northern part of our mission. I guess the middle of Louisiana, a small town out in the country called Pineville. We have been a bit worried about the work in this area and the missionaries seemed to be struggling a bit. We decided to set goals before we started the exchange and to make a long story short, the other missionary wanted to be realistic and apparently finding 1 new investigator wasn't too realistic bless his heart I guess. Anyways, he didn't seem to be too believing, but I wasn't there to sit back and sip some holiday egg nog ;) Ain't nobody got time for dat haha. So we got on those bikes and rode! After a couple rejections came the miracle. There was a couple standing outside their house talking and so we started to approach them. As soon as we started walking up, the man was like, "No, no we ain't interested. We are baptist, we know your purpose. Get out of here, we aren't looking to convert." But as we started testifying of our purpose to invite others to come unto Christ and that Heavenly Father was the father of our spirits and had a plan for us, he stopped and said, "hmm yeah we believe that." And then began to shake our hands and introduce himself. We ended up sharing the "Because of Him" video and he said that one of his friends/coworkers had showed him the same video a few months prior. It was such a miracle. The wife, Savannah, said, "Next time y'all come we will have a lesson inside with our 3 kids. The 15 year old really needs it." haha it was so great! It was just such an answer to prayers because we had the faith to go out there knowing that if we believe then Heavenly Father will provide for us. Faith always precedes the miracle! My confidence was in the the Savior Jesus Christ, and he hasn't let me down yet :D
Funny Story: On Saturday, we were out contacting with an older gentleman in the ward, Bro Mills. We got in his car and started driving to our appointment. Well, halfway there we got a little lost in the big city and realized that we had forgotten our GPS. In turn we had to resort to what he was calling a "Map" which we haven't seen a paper copy of that for a while ;) We weren't sure what that was haha. Anyways, the map turns out to be a very zoomed out map of the entire state so that didn't help us very much. Well, long story short we ended up finding the house after what seemed to be a thousand U-turns and many horns being honked at us haha. As we walk up the drive-way to the house Bro Mills receives a phone call and answers it. We look back and he is talking on his iPhone HAHA. He had his iPhone with a gps on it the entire time LOL. It was so funny. You could say it was almost like we were stuck in the Rockies, and he had two pairs of gloves on while we were freezing with our bare hands. Movie quote :D haha good times.
That's it for this week! We have a general authority visiting the mission this coming week, a couple baptisms to prepare for, and also transfers next week, so it is going to be pretty crazy for us! If you don't hear from me in a bit don't worry, I am most likely safe, but probably a little nervous :)
Hope everyone has a great week and good luck with school starting up! Love y'all from the bottom of the south.
Love,
Elder Wilson
