I can honestly say that I have learned patience more than ever in these past 5 weeks. The people in this area were mighty hard to contact and share messages with because they were all busy during the holiday. They asked if we could come back after about half-way through January! Boy have we been hitting up their houses left and right. They all sure see a lot of us now :) But any way, Sister Wight and I were struggling because we hadn't seen a lot of miracles happening in our area. All the other missionaries in our Zone have been finding people ready to be baptized and have had just the neatest experiences and stories. We seriously thought we were doing something wrong to not have seen any miracles in our area. There's a saying, "Obedience brings blessings, Exact Obedience brings miracles." Were we not being exactly obedient enough? Well no, that's not the case. I firmly believe that Sister Wight and I have had a lot to work on indovidually and Heavenly Father has given us the time to really focus on progressing individually and converting individually to the ways of being what's called "The Fourth Missionary" so that way when the blessings come we will appreciate them a ton more. So as we have been working on our things, the Lord has been well pleased with our hard work and blesses us with tender mercies daily. We have been receiving a ton of referrals, which are nonmembers that we are asked to go and visit and see if they are willing to hear about the message of which we have to share. Some invite us in and don't want to learn but will be kind and befriend us. And on the otherhand, some will look at us like we are crazy and say, "Umm I already have a Lord and Savior, thanks for your time anyways." For every 5 people that turn us down, one is bound to listen!
We contacted the referrals one evening and one of them was this family of nonmembers. They actually weren't home, but the son was! He lives in Salt Lake and goes to SLCC and was just home for the weekend. So we asked him if he would be interested in learning more about the church and he said, "I mean sure, I just really like hearing ya'lls testaments about the church. Oh, can I have a Book of Mormon too? I have been meaning to read it again." What? Again? He explained that growing up in utah and hearing a ton about the LDS church, he wanted to read the BOM for himself and learn about it. So he read it once when he was 10 and hasn't since. So we gave him one and shared a scripture with him, Moroni 10:3-5. Just when we thought he would be interested, he began talking about how he actually is agnostic and belives in science to be the only true and correct thing. He started talking about distorted things in the church like polygamy, tithing, mormons being forced into having lots of kids, how the Prophet is paid, gay people, and sexual chemistry. Yes, we covered all of these things in a matter of 15 minutes. He had such a terrible concept on it all and I think my comp and I did a good job staying focused and not going deep into those things. He obviously was very set in his ways and what he believes and there wasn't any changing that, but we helped him understand the nature of God. That yes, God has given us His restored church once again on the earth and if We Choose to follow his commandments, He promises blessings eternally and life with Him forever. But the only thing is that He doesn't have our Heart. We helped him understand that God loves us so much that He doesn't force us to believe the gospel. The only thing He doesn't have is our hearts. WE have to choose to give that to him for ourselves, WE have to choose to follow His commandments which He has given, WE have to choose to repent and be baptized and become a member of this church. The greatest gift that Heavenly Father gave to man is his Agency, his freedom to choose. You don't show someone love by forcing them to do something, yet you express your love by guiding them in the right direction and then letting them choose on their own. This is the pure love of Jesus Christ. All men are saved through His Atonement He performed, but all men still can choose to partake of it and repent of their sins and become cleansed. Heavenly Father loves each and every one of His children and desires us all to return back to Him one day. After we said this to him, he just looked at us and said that he would read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it's true. We then taught him how to pray in addressing Heavenly Father, thanking Him for blessings and asking any questions (for him in regards to the BOM), then closing in the name of Jesus Christ. He said he would do it! We gave him our number and told him to ask us any questions if he needed to! You could tell his heart was softened. It was definitely a weird experience in the beginning, but to share with him our testimonies changed his outlook. :)
So one day it was snowing pretty bad and we decided to go walking to try and find some people to teach. We met this guy standing outside of this house on the drive-way shoveling it. We stopped and talked to him for a minute and he actually invited us back over to meet with him. He said we wanted to learn more about the church because his ex-wife was actually LDS. So Sister Wight and I have been trying to go back and meet with him and the last 3 times we have went he hasn't been home. But, this last time we went a couple days ago his daughter answered. And guess what, she wasn't wearing any pants. Talk about Awkward. Seriously, I have never felt so weird shaking someone's hand as I did hers at her front door. Ahh!!! Strrrrange people!
There is a less-active family that we have been visiting often and teaching lessons to. They are the funniest family I think I have ever met! Maybe.. But any way, the dad is Native American and believes in Animal Todoms, Totems? However you spell it. Haha it's funny to me and Sister Wight because we haven't heard of that, ever. But he said that he would ponder on what we are, what animal we are, then let us know. About a week after he said that he texted us at like 3am and said, "I GOT IT! I know your todoms." The next lesson we had with them, he shared with us what we are. Apparently I am a Dolphin and these are the attributes:
kind
salvation
wisdom
happiness
playfulness
prudent
capable of deep emotion
happy
Even though I don't understand the Todom thing, I thought that those are great attributes to work towards! Neat, huh? :)
And this other guy that's not an ective member we are teaching wrote me a song about flowers, it's hilarious! We are thinking of writing a song with him. It'll be interesting to say the least. Haha I love the people here. They are so great, they keep us on our toes!
We are experiencing miracles! Yes! We have 2 new investigators, pray for them! Pray for them to feel loved and to have open hearts to our message we have to share. Good things are happening :)
My favorite scripture right now is Mosiah 4:11, look it up! I know that scripture was written just for me. I read it during personal study at the perfect time, just when I needed it. I know once i have felt the Lord's love I can become humble, pray fervently, and press forward with faith. Faith is key. Faith is action. FAITH FAITH FAITH!
I love you, all! So much! Thank you for all of the love and support.
Until next time,
Sister Garretson
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