October 27, 2014
This week has flown and transfers are next week! Hopefully Sister Johnson and I will stay together a while longer. This week has been full of happiness and good weather and speeding on our bikes to get to the many appointments we had. We have been blessed to work a lot with the 47 youth in the 2nd ward through Wednesday night activities and a youth talk with the bishopric last night about missionary work and fears in going on missions. I felt like I was a youth again! Participating in youth group from 12-18 shaped so much of who I am today. The 3rd ward had their primary program yesterday and as they belted their hearts out singing songs about following Christ, families and the gospel, my heart was filled with gratitude that there is light and truth amid the darkness in the world. The adversary has been making such a concentrated attack on families lately by making people question their gender, their purpose in life, and the things that will make them happy. I want to quote a line from such a simple but important children's song. Truth isn't complex, it is clear and simple enough for a child to understand. "God gave us families to help us become who he wants us to be. This is how he shows his love, for the family is of God. " I know that is true! Families are so essential to God's eternal plan, and no family is perfect, but all families who strive to live the gospel will be perfectly fine, in fact they will find happiness and peace! Simple things like scripture study, family home evening, and family prayer are easier said than done, but they make ALL the difference. At least, for me they have.
This upcoming week will be really exciting, Rhyan Davis (the 20 yr. old with autism) and Godelive (the mother of the African family) are getting baptized on Saturday! I love them both so much and have been so blessed for the opportunity to teach them the gospel.
Lastly I'll share a story my mom asked me to type up- it's the story of how we found Spencer, the boy who got baptized last week:
Spencers's Story-
One night when I was on exchanges with Sister Jamison, we had a little extra time before an appointment so we pulled over to pray and ask the Lord to guide us. I had the thought to go visit our flaky investigator German and on the way there in the car I saw 3 boys walking down the street. When you're in YSA wards you have a special YSA lens and automatically seek out any and all who look like they might possibly be 18-31 and single. We passed them but I really wanted to talk to them. I mean, it didn't feel like a huge prompting or anything, those are honestly pretty rare for me but I said to sister Jamison "would that be creepy if we turned around to try to talk to those boys? They look either 14 or YSA age. She said yes and so naturally I said "Okay let's just be creepy then, we're missionaries!" We turned around just in time to see them turn the corner. We followed them and pulled over to walk. By that time they were far enough in front of us that it would have been really weird to run after them and stop them and so I just decided we would stop at Mizriam's house who lived on the same street we were walking down. He had been sick so I though he might need a visit. Just as we walked up to Miz's driveway, the same 3 boys walked in. It turns out they were 3 of Miz's best friends from highschool- all nonmembers. They were just about to get going on some Friday night video-gaming fun but Miz is super nice so he let us share a 3 minute message about the Plan of Salvation. His friends just stared at us and when we asked if any of them would be interested in learning more, they all said no with really bored looks on their faces, and Spencer specifically said "No, I'm atheist". We left, sad that we didn't have any success and went on with our night. Fast forward 3 days- Sister Tranchina had just become my companion and we got a text from Miz that his friends Spencer had been texting him about how he felt really depressed and was interested in meeting with us. The first lesson we had, this 18 yr old boy who had never before believed in God expressed his concern for his family and the need for purpose in his life. He told us that he wouldn't have set up a meeting with us if he wasn't serious about what it meant. And now, he's baptized, at the beginning of his journey in the gospel. I know now that I did follow the spirit that night and that God was looking out for Spencer. He does send us to people. Never for one second think that you're not placed in people's lives for a reason. Everyone you know has the opportunity to learn from you and to feel of your light so they can then decide if what you have is true and good. I promise that as you invite people to learn more, to come to church and to feel of the holy ghost through firesides and being in your home, God will make you a true instrument in His hands.
Confiance and me:) The girls just took out their weaves so I French braided their little fros as well as I could. She told me she wanted to have skin like me and I told her I was thinking the same thing but about her so we've decided to trade skin soon, I'll let you know how it turns out;)
Dinner with the Kenners in the 2nd ward and their german foreign exchange student, Joel!
Happy Halloween everyone, have fun eating candy while I eat African food with Godelive's family! (that is the only exciting thing we get to do Halloween night, the rest will be spent safely inside doing weekly planning. Yay!;)
Love,
Sister Pearson
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