MIRACLES!!!

July 08, 2019

MIRACLES!!!

Hello wonderful people!!

Wow this week has been so good!! We have seen some of the coolest miracles of my mission. Seriously. God is so good we have definitely seen his hand this week! Here are 3 of the coolest miracles from the week!!

MIRACLE #1

A few nights ago we had just finished a member dinner and we asked the members if they had any neighbors they thought we should stop by. They told us about a house a few streets down so we started walking over there. On our way there we saw a man sitting on his front porch smoking. We stopped to talk to him. We asked him about his religious background and got to know him a little bit. He opened up to us about some really hard things that are going on with his family right now and especially with his son who has autism. We simply told him that God loves him. After we said that he broke down and started balling. We shared our testimonies of the Book of Mormon and he was eager to take a copy. I felt like we needed to show him the Because of Him video so I pulled out my phone and we showed him that! He continued to cry even more. After the video he kept saying, "This is crazy". We asked him why and he said that he was been praying SO hard for a long time to know what to do to help his family. He said that we were an answer to his prayers and that he is so grateful we found him! He was still really emotional so we just got his number and we have been in contact with him for that last few days. AND he said that a big reason he hasn't been going to church is because of his autistic son. Turns out that in our ward we have lots of kids who have autism and there is even a member who is specifically called to watch those kids on Sundays. I have never been in a ward where they have that situation. It was a huge testimony builder to me that God is aware of each of us and our situations.

MIRACLE #2

We had some busy days this week and one night is was about 8:30 pm and we were biking back from the church which is about a 30 minute bike ride from our apartment. As we were riding home we saw a lady standing off in her front yard. I felt like we needed to go talk to her but Sister Nelson was pretty far ahead of me and I knew we needed to get home. So I kept going. But I still really felt like we needed to go talk to her! All the sudden Sister Nelson turned her bike around! She felt like we needed to talk to her too so we went back! We put our bikes down and started walking up to her. She said that she knew exactly who we were, Latter Day Saints. We said Yes we are missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day saints. She asked who we were looking for and we told her we were just coming to talk to her. Turns out that she has been investigating the church since 2009, she has read the Book of Mormon and been to church many times! She isn't in our records so there would have been no other way to find her!! WOW. She said when we started walking up to her she got chills and knew we were sent from God. She said that missionaries haven't come by in years and recently she has been praying for help. We had a very spiritual visit with her. We went back on Saturday for a lesson and she fed us lunch. It was such a crazy miracle to find her! God is good.

MIRACLE #3

So a few weeks ago we met a sweet girl named Emily. She is a friend of a less active member in our ward. We have had some incredible experiences doing family history with her and some really spiritual conversations. She has such a special spirit about her. This week she came to the YSA ward so we went with her! It was so good! Testimony meeting was amazing and after Emily said that she knows all of this is happening in her life for a reason. She said that she felt the Spirit and she wants to keep coming back. She even said that she wants to get baptized one day! The YSA ward was so loving and welcoming! It was such a special day seeing her feel the Spirit and have her own confirmation that the Lord is so aware of her in her life.

SPIRITUAL THOUGHT

The last few weeks I've really been pondering about how I can become my "best self". That can be a hard thing! Satan is always tempting us to doubt ourselves, to compare ourselves and to be way too hard on ourselves. This week we had MLC (mission leadership conference) and we watched the talk "Character of Christ" by Elder Bednar. I watched this talk in the MTC and it was so good to watch it almost a year later and do a self evaluation. In some ways I have definitely seen myself grow and become more like the Savior. But in lots of ways I still fall short. I was reading a talk this week that asked 4 different questions. I have been pondering these questions this week and I they have really helped me. I would encourage all of you to ask yourself these questions and evaluate how you can become your BEST SELF! 1) Am I what I want to be? 2) Am I closer to the Savior today than I was yesterday? 3) Will I be closer yet tomorrow? 4) Do I have the courage to change for the better?

Well folks, it was a good week here in Glen Allen! I'm so happy to be serving here! This week we also got to meet the Droubays! I already love them so much! President Droubay helped write Preach my Gospel, he got set apart by President Nelson, He has been in charge of the Light the World Campaign, and He has worked for the church basically his whole life. I'm excited to get to know them more! Thanks for all the love and support! Y'all are the best!!

❤Sister Stringham❤