Another good week to start off a transfer!! My new companion is Sister Mota from Fortaleza; she has a fiancé who she met right before her mission-- he was an RM at the time and he is waiting for her. It amazes me how some of my companions decided to serve mission. Always cool to hear the stories of other sister missionaries! Sister Mota is awesome; love her already.
First, the family--early this week we contacted a man with his 15 year old son. It was partially raining so we knew he was elect when he started talking to us. He accepted a visit and said he would go to church the next Sunday because he works one Sunday on and one Sunday off. We left the Plan of Salvation pamphlet with him. We had an appointment with him on Saturday, and when we get there, we are a bit late and he said he was sorry that he started drinking. My first thought--oh no. Then we look behind him and there are a ton of little kids and his ``wife``(they aren´t married...yet!); they invited us in and the two little girls hugged us right away. Everyone was happy to see us and immediately brought us chairs, turned off the TV, sat down, and asked us a bunch of questions. We were able to teach an entire family--the first time that has ever happened on the first visit on my mission. Everyone was attentive--very suprising because it was a mom, dad, 15year old, 13 year old, 9 year old, 6 year old, 5 year old, and a 4 year old. The 6 and 4 year old were neighbors that the mom takes care of. We taught the Restoration and we had a tons of participation--only a few tears when we asked Carol(9) to help us with a demonstration to explain prophets and her brother made fun of her. We recovered after a few tears and Carol was happy to be included. They all were really listening, and another shock--pizza came in the middle of the lesson. They had ordered pizza and just the dad went to get it, and it was a miracle--no one got up. They all waited and listened until the end of our lesson, which was like 10-15 more minutes. I was shocked; these kids are really something. The mom, Silvana, told us about a dream she had where 2 angels dressed in white came to her and told her that she wasn´t prepared yet. I didn´t really understand all the details, but I know this family had been prepared. At the end, José asked two questions that were in his mind after reading about the Plan of Salvation. He said, ``I´m pretty sure I know the answers to these questions, but I just want to make sure. Is there life after death?`` We responded in the affirmative. ``Will we all be resurrected?`` Yes. He sighed with relief and told us he was good. José and Silvana want to get married, and they along with their 3 oldest kids accepted baptismal dates. I was so happy!
After the lesson, on our way home, we ran into a bunch of mean, angry dogs...satan. As we were cornered, Sister Mota whispered, ``If we run, we get bitten. If we stay, we get eaten.`` I replied, ``I´d rather go to the hospital than the cemetary.`` We ended up not having to do either because we said a prayer and they walked away. Tender mercy.
We also visited a less-active recent convert family (only the kids were baptized). We had a heart-to-heart with Geovana(14), who told us that she didn´t want to get baptized but felt influenced by her siblings at the time. Sister Mota asked some very inspired questions to get her to open up. We discovered that she had no desire to pray, read scriptures, go to church, etc. because she had doubts that God exists. We had a super spiritual lesson about faith, change, and temples. It was super spiritual because we didn´t once try to `burn her` or make her feel bad, but asked some really good questions and taught with the spirit. It was a testimony builder for me because I knew that that is how we are really supposed to teach every lesson--we could say bold things because we spoke with love and really tried to help her feel the Spirit. In the end, she agreed to visit the temple with us and her sister Amanda (and hopefully the rest of their family).
We also visited a less-active recent convert family (only the kids were baptized). We had a heart-to-heart with Geovana(14), who told us that she didn´t want to get baptized but felt influenced by her siblings at the time. Sister Mota asked some very inspired questions to get her to open up. We discovered that she had no desire to pray, read scriptures, go to church, etc. because she had doubts that God exists. We had a super spiritual lesson about faith, change, and temples. It was super spiritual because we didn´t once try to `burn her` or make her feel bad, but asked some really good questions and taught with the spirit. It was a testimony builder for me because I knew that that is how we are really supposed to teach every lesson--we could say bold things because we spoke with love and really tried to help her feel the Spirit. In the end, she agreed to visit the temple with us and her sister Amanda (and hopefully the rest of their family).
Love you all! Be patient and believe in miracles--they happen, according to our faith.
Love, Sister Sadie Bledsoe
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