MIRACLES!!!

September 17, 2018

MIRACLES!!!

Hey Hey Hey!!!

This week has been full of miracles!! Everyday something amazing has happened and I can't stop smiling!! Missionary work is hard but it's weeks like this week that make it all worth it!! Here are just a few of the amazing things that have happened this week!!

MIRACLE #1

This week we put two people on date for BAPTISM!! Angelique and Ben are both scheduled to be baptized on September 30th and we couldn't be more excited for them!! So a little bit about Angelique...She is a powerhouse! She has gone through a lot in her life and has been taught by the missionaries for yearsssss! She is so solid in the gospel and has been taught everything very thoroughly. We made the decision at the beginning of this transfer to have the sisters start teaching her rather than the elders and it worked! When we go over to teach her we mostly just listen to her concerns and do the best we can to help her. This is exactly what she needed!! In our area book it says "If you get her baptized you are legendary" Haha so this is a big deal!! I'm so so excited for her and I know she is going to be such a strong and inspirational member of the church!! Now a little bit about Ben! We just started teaching him at the beginning of the transfer. His wife is a member and he comes to church every once in a while. He's met with missionaries before but never really had a strong interest in becoming a member of the church until now. He works up at the White House so he is busy all the time!! It's been a struggle to find time to teach him but we have made it work and he wants to get baptized now!! He's such a cool guy!!

MIRACLE #2

Klarke and Samantha came to church yesterday!!! Klarke and Samantha are the people who we have been teaching for a while, they have the cutest three little girls and they are an amazing family!! We have been trying to get them to come to church for weeks now and they finally came!! And they loved it!! The speakers that spoke in Sacrament Meeting were PERFECT!! They spoke about their parents conversion stories and how much it has changes their life and the lives of their whole family. One of the speakers said "For those of you who aren't a member of the church, what are you waiting for?" The spirit was so strong and those talks were exactly what Klarke and Samantha needed to hear! Sister Cunningham and I taught Sunday School and they were very attentive and loved what we teaching about!! We went to visit them later last night to see what questions they had about church. They said they loved how kind everyone was and how peaceful it was!! They said they really enjoyed everything about it and they will be back next week with their three little girls! They are the cutest family!!!

MIRACLE #3

This week we visited a guy named Jay. The Elders have been teaching him for years but they decided to have us go try him this week. The Elders have told us that he's rarely ever home, they have never been able to get a return appointment with him and he hasn't ever really opened up and told the elders what's holding him back from joining the church. We went to his house one afternoon and he was there!! That was the first miracle! And he let us right in and we went and sat on his back deck and talked for quite a while. He really opened up to us and told us the things that are holding him back. We shared some scriptures with him and answered any questions he had. He is an awesome guy and would be such a strong member of the church. He set up a return appointment for us to come back and talk to him more!! We accomplished all three of the things that the elders haven't been able to do in years!!

MIRACLE #4

During our All Mission conference last week we talked about how important it is to try people who were formerly interested in the message we have or those who met with missionaries years ago. One afternoon this week we were trying a bunch of former's and knocked on this door looking for a young lady. It turns out she moved to Florida but we talked to her brother Javier. He was so excited to hear what we had to say and we gave him a Book of Mormon!! He said "wow you guys have blessed my day!" He invited us to come back and teach him more!!! "Exact obedience brings miracles!!"

MIRACLE #5

A few nights ago we had like 30 minutes before our dinner appointment to go knock on a few doors. The first door we knocked on was Myra. At first she wasn't interested at all, she said she was too busy and was content with the way her life was. We talked to her a little bit about the Book of Mormon and after this she was like "You know what, maybe you guys should come in for a few minutes". We went in and taught her a quick lesson and she loved everything we were telling her!! She was so nice and sent us with some water and snacks haha! We went back another time this week and she is so interested in the message of the gospel. She has gone through a lot in her life and has a lot of guilt from past experiences. We taught her about the Atonement and as I bore testimony to her of how willing Christ is to forgive us the spirit was so strong. She wants to receive that forgiveness and mercy in her life.

MIRACLE #6

So remember Caitlyn from the grocery store that I talked about a few weeks ago?? Well she's still awesome and we still see her every Monday morning!! She's a triplet and this week we found both of her sisters on Facebook!! They are all so sweet!! We have been talking to all three of them via Facebook and they want us to start teaching them!! They go to a Christian church and they have such a strong love for religion. They want to learn more and come closer to Christ. We are going to dinner with all three of them this week!! I'm so so excited about it!!

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT

This week Sister Cunningham and I taught a lesson in Sunday school about Charity. We talked about 4 ways we can develop charity. They are 1) learning about the life of Jesus Christ, 2) pray for charity 3) stop thinking we are better than others 4) love ourselves. I think a lot of times we forget how important it is to love our-self. "Learning to love ourselves means that we understand our true worth as children of our Heavenly Father. The Savior taught clearly that we must love others as we love ourselves (see Matthew 22:39). To love ourselves, we must respect and trust ourselves. This means that we must be obedient to the principles of the gospel. We must repent of any wrongdoings. We must forgive ourselves when we have repented. We will come to love ourselves better when we can feel the deep, comforting assurance that the Savior truly loves us." I know I'm really going to work on doing these things this week and I challenge all of you to do the same❤ Thanks for all the love and support!! Love you all! Have the best week!!

-Sister Stringham