Happy Memorial Day!!! Thank you to all the service men and women, past and present, for your loyalty to our great country :) Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your families!
Thank you to my dear mother for the package she sent me this week! I loved it, of course :)
But for real: miracle of the week. We saw a lot of little miracles this week: the Lord showing His hand always here and there :) On Tuesday, we were knocking a few doors, looking for a miracle and we found Blanca!! We were talking to her on the doorstep and she was telling us of her conversion to the Baptist faith from the Catholic faith. We were asking her the details of that change and how she felt and all of that and she asked us if we wanted to come in, and of course we did! So we went in and she told us that she never lets anyone from other religions into her home, and she doesn't know what she sees in us, but she felt like she should let us in. Obviously, she felt the Spirit of the Lord!! Tuesday morning was a hard morning for me, and I was even more deeply humbled by that experience. Knowing that the Spirit IS with us and it IS touching peoples' hearts here :) built my testimony of the reality and importance of the Spirit in this work. It's so easy to feel comfortable, to feel that you can do it by your own teaching abilities or skill and you just can't!
There are just some moments in a mission when I just want to take a picture of it and remember it forever. :) We were sitting in the humble home of a less active in our branch and we found out that she loves to sing!! So she just sang to us for a few minutes and of course we sang together :) It was so fun to find that common interest and feel the Spirit as we shared our talents. We told her we would help her to learn how to read music so she could sing the hymns in sacrament meeting. She told us that she really wants to, but doesn't know how!! We are super excited to help her with that. We just love her. She is the neatest lady.
The lost sheep we found like a month ago is now active!!! All missionary work is so rewarding whether it be baptizing, reactivating, or retaining, or doing temple work! It is all the same work, and it's so rewarding :) and I love it!
Now here's the story of the power of prayer. :) We are teaching this woman who's husband isn't very into religion and has always seemed like he just doesn't want to try. So we saw him outside this week and stopped and talked to him. He was going on about his dislike of religion and the bad experiences he has had...and I asked him: "Have you ever prayed and told God about all your doubts and problems with religion?" he just sat there for a minute and said "you made me think." His countenance completely changed and from that question on he was willing to pray about that and also read some passages in the Book of Mormon. There is such power in questions and prayer :) The Spirit opens hearts!!
A counter-example: we met such a wonderful young woman yesterday who recently converted to the Baptist faith from the Catholic faith and we invited her to learn more about the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. She accepted gladly, but today she called us and said that the elders of her church said she shouldn't meet with us and she needs to respect these elders. I encouraged her to pray and ask God about it, He has all wisdom and we have access to it through prayer - we don't need to ask anyone else or take any one else's word for it! She didn't accept and it made me so sad.
Do we realize that we can communicate with our loving Father in Heaven and He WILL answer us every time? Sometimes I forget the power of prayer and the privilege of prayer. I know that if we sincerely seek the Lord's guidance through prayer to really know if the truth of Jesus Christ has truly been restored, they will receive that witness through the power of the Holy Ghost. How grateful I am for that promise :) I love it and have FULL confidence and faith in it. Only in that way can we truly gain a conviction of the reality of Jesus Christ and His love for us.
I love you all so so much and hope you have a fabulous week!!!
Being a missionary is the beeeest!
Con todo mi corazon y mi amor,
Hermana Shumway
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| Nohely and I! |
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