Wow, what a week! Ok, so I think to make up for a slow week last week, Heavenly Father has blessed us with so much! It started off with us getting to teach Charles Wambolt! Although it was because his daughter "persuaded" him to do it, he made it very clear that this lesson was for him (his daughters get a bit chatty). So that was awesome to hear. We taught him about the Restoration and had some great discussions about it. Although he did not say that he knew for sure that Joseph Smith was a prophet, he explained that something must have happened with Jesus Christ as it is such a well known topic, and the same with Joseph Smith because so much has come from that. He was able to basically draw out the point that even though we weren't there for these two events in history, we can see the fruits of them and that's enough for him to believe that something happened and that he would pray about it. At the end, we knelt as Charles closed in a very heartfelt prayer. He didn't set up a follow-up appointment, but informed us he would ponder on the things we taught. He has the desire and that is huge!
Tuesday, I had another missionary leadership council (once a month) and we focused on the importance of the Book of Mormon. Although this is not the first time I've had training on the Book of Mormon while on my mission, it is so wonderful to have a reminder and I always learn something new. This time we focused on how the Book of Mormon can answer "Questions of the Soul". President Winder assigned each companionship a question and told us to find a scripture that would help answer/resolve the concern. There was a variety from "God doesn't care about me anymore" to "Should I marry him?" (we all laughed at that one). It was so neat though to see how really any question can be answered in the Book of Mormon. Truly this scripture was written for our day and time. These great men who recorded their experiences and revelations never even got to see the Book of Mormon put together as they passed down their recordings from generation to generation and it was preserved until our time so that nothing would be corrupted. How marvelous and special this is to our Heavenly Father and now for us! We also discussed "unity" and how as we incorporate it more as a mission, we will see more miracles occur. With our mission growing so quickly, it can be hard to feel united as a whole mission when we rarely see half of the missionaries, but as we keep focused on the same goal and purpose, "to invite others to come unto Christ", then we can feel the unity grow. I was able to reinforce this at Zone Meeting on Friday and it was really great to be able to share my testimony about unity and to discuss ideas of how we can all be more united. To put aside our pride and differences as we work together to help build the Kingdom of God.
Friday was amazing as Sister Maness and I went to work and saw miracles! There is a family that was referred to us that we have tried for a couple weeks now to contact, but not having an exact address, had troubles locating them. Finally, we we received and exact address and went to contact them. As we pulled up, Clair (the wife) opened her garage door - seeing an unfamiliar car and wanted to see who it was - and greeted us. At first, she seemed a little confused, not knowing who we were, but when we mentioned that we were the missionaries and that Brother Barfuss had thought we should come by to meet them, she softened a little bit and welcomed us inside. As we met inside, she asked if we wanted to talk (uh, yeah!), so we sat on her couch and visited for about 20 minutes. She is so sweet and shared much with us about her family and religious background. She grew up in a devout Catholic family, but the last few years had decided to stop going for personal disagreements. Her husband is not religious, but feels he can be one with God while out in nature. She respects him and doesn't force him to come with her, but they have made sure their two little girls know who God and Jesus Christ are. She grew up in California (woowoo!) and even spent summers in Hemet, where Sister Maness is from!, so that was a cool connection. She had heard of Mormons in CA, but as she moved out here to Idaho and was surrounded by so many more LDS families, she began to see more what we are about. She really was impressed with how put-together we seem to be about the family and being involved in the community. We explained that as missionaries (sisters), we spend 18 months of our life devoted to teach people about our religion and what LDS people believe. We asked her if she would be interested in learning more and she said yes! Oh we were so happy. Not much feels better than finding someone who wants to know more. She even asked if we had stuff we could leave with her to read (of course!). We are looking forward to going back. We met with Brenda later that evening and found her sick at home. The rest of her family has been sick and so she got the tail-end of it. Poor thing. Anyway, we were just chatting and then she started to bring up about baptism. Just a recap, she has had all the discussions before, but for various reasons has not been able to commit to baptism - though she wants to. She expressed to us that she really does, but being an only child and not having support from her family really concerns her. Sister Maness and I shared a few stories of family and friends we know that has joined the church alone and that their families may not have been supportive or understanding, but that over time as they saw it only made them a better person, they softened their hearts. She still is uneasy about it and so we have just been praying for her faith to increase her confidence and for her family's hearts to be softened. It will happen in the right time :)
Saturday, we got our transfer calls. It was kind of fun as we were together with our district (all the missionaries in our stake) for a meeting and so we sat around the table waiting "patiently" for the voicemail. SO...Sister Maness and I are staying another transfer together here in Star (guess this is my 6 month area :). It was a little bittersweet though, as we are having another set of sisters come into our stake and are taking the Star 2nd ward. So we are now just covering Beacon Light. I love both these wards so much and so it was really hard to say our goodbyes yesterday. Sister Maness and I were able to do a musical number of "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" (I accompanied her) and I'm grateful we were able to do that before we left the 2nd ward. I think why this is so hard for us is because we're still here in Star, still share the church building, and really are just serving across the street, so we'll still run into members from the 2nd ward but can't go see them like we could while serving in their wards. I have had a lot of close people in that ward and so it was hard to say goodbye, but I know that Sister Maness and I are needed in the Beacon Light ward for particular people so I'm excited to see the miracles that come from that this transfer. Yesterday, we said our goodbyes to the Bartholomew's and Miary. We cried so much with Miary. We were able to share our favorite scriptures with her and bear our testimonies and it was just a really special visit. I'm so grateful I was able to meet her and to learn so much from her! She is going to do marvelous things.
Last night, Sister Maness and I were able to teach Hudson Sparks! It was great to finally get to do that, as it's been talked about for a while but never followed through. Hudson's dad explained how he had felt pushed growing up to go to church and ended up going inactive. But he knows that this church is true and wants his family to be a part of it, but he wants them to make that decision for themselves, not just because dad told them to. Hudson has actually had the discussions before, but it's been a while so it was good just to go over everything. We taught him the Restoration and we were really impressed with how attentive he was for a 9 year old boy (definitely good practice for when I have kids of my own!). It was neat to see his whole family come in and be involved. Although the struggle with coming to church, you can see that they all know it is true and the Spirit was able to testify of that. He gave a sweet and simple prayer at the end and felt good about everything that was talked about. I am excited to see him progress as well as his family as we strive to help him prepare for baptism and for his family to go to the temple together.
Like I said earlier, this week has truly been amazing. I continue to learn so much. I continue to see the tender mercies of my Heavenly Father and how much He knows me and my struggles and blesses me based on my efforts. Sometimes we don't see those blessings or get our answers right away, but either way He is always there. I am excited for a new transfer and this time that we can really focus on one ward (crazy!) and continue in the "hastening of the work". This gospel is true. The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ and does have the answers to any question we might have, whether temporal or spiritual. Our Heavenly Father lives and knows each of us by name and is there for us. Remember that if you feel distanced from Him, it's not Him turning away from you, so check out what you're doing before assuming He's neglecting you.
I love you all. Thank you for your prayers and letters. I feel so blessed with the wonderful family and friends that I have.
Love,
Sister Wightman
