A Sister on the Yellow Brick Road: Week 27: Silent Prayers are Answered :)

HELLOOOO EVERYONE!!!

What a beautiful day it is today! It's a little windy and cold here in the Garden City, but it really is such a great day today!!

I am so sorry to cute Jarrett that I have forgotten the past TWO weeks to tell him happy birthday, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY J!!! I love you!
And also happy birthday to Brenton!!!
And also happy birthday to the one and only Eric!! I hope both of you have such a wonderful memorable day today :))

Lots of thank-yous to go through today! Thank you to Mom, Dad, and Cara for the awesome Christmas package! Sister Guillen and I LOVE it!!! I will attach a video of our thanks! :) Sister Guillen is REALLY good at guessing the gifts. Really really good. She hasn't been wrong yet! Thank you to Matt, Gina, and Rena Pursel for their Christmas card - it is DARLING. Thank you to the Hancock family for the Christmas package! I love all the sweets :) AND thank you to Brother and Sister Jarnagin for the card! Congrats on the mission call!! You are going to be the best!! I love all the Senior couples we have here in the KWM!

I found out that Sister Hymas is the Sister Training Leader here so I got to go on exchanges with her this past week!!! It was so much fun, I just love her so much. I'll attach a cute pic of us :)

So the story I have for you this week is when a silent prayer of mine was answered almost immediately. It was SO cool. Let me tell ya about it! So. As a mission we have been focusing a lot on the Questions of the Soul listed in Preach My Gospel. These are questions that almost everyone has. Questions like "Is there a God?" "Is there life after death?" "How can my family be happier and more united?" All of the answers to these questions can be found in the Book of Mormon. So as a mission we have been working really hard to use these questions of the soul more in order to help people see, in a very personal way, how the Book of Mormon truly brings us closer to Jesus Christ. We were in a lesson with an investigator, just kinda following up on stuff...it wasn't really going anywhere and I was just praying so hard! I thought "Heavenly Father, I really feel like we need to use the Book of Mormon to answer a question of the soul...but I have NO idea what question to ask her that would bring one up!" So I just kept praying and listening to her when all of a sudden she said "I went back to church a few times after my brother died...just looking for comfort and peace..." It came! Just like that! I was/am so grateful. Then we were able to ask her if she would like to know what happens after death. And she said yes, and we were able to open up the Book of Mormon and tell her right then and there. She got very excited, felt very at peace, and told us she was going to read the chapter (Alma 40) over again AND share it with her family. It was awesome!!! I found out later that Sister Guillen was praying for the same thing.
It was such a wonderful experience. I know that Heavenly Father hears every prayer. Silent or spoken. Although it may not be answered that quickly every single time, the answer does come every single time.

I am so grateful for all the experiences I have had on my mission. I can't wait to learn and grow so much more in the next year :)

I love you all so much! Thank you again for all of your love and support! Talk to you next week!

Con todo mi corazon y mi amor,

Hermana Shumway