Sister I had never seen a orange pumpkin before! She was so weirded out by all the gourds. I hope a member invites us over to carve pumpkins this year, Sister I has never carved one before. She also had asparagus the other night for the first time. She really liked it until the Elders told her that it would make her pee smell weirdhaha. (Gotta love those Elders....)
MY MAGIC BAG WITH A BLUE BOOK IN IT
So last week we got a media referral text for a lady named Sue. So that was super exciting! All it said was "GOLDEN! Her Son was just baptized and she wants to learn more and get closer to Christ. She would prefer Sisters."
SATURDAY-We were so excited. So Saturday we got to her house and Sue's sister Judith answered the door. She was sarcastic and crabby (probably about 75) and when we asked if she was Sue she just scowled so we were kinda taken back... maybe we had knocked on the wrong door? Then we hear Sue call out from the background "I am Sue! Come in!" Judith invited us inside and it all started from there. Sue is about 65 and she was sitting on the couch watching a Teddy Roosevelt documentary, grinning from ear to ear when she saw us walk in. Her Son (Rob), who referred her, was just baptized 3 weeks ago. He was actually visiting them for the weekend (coincidence? I think not....) and he told us all about his conversion story. The Elders knocked on his door a few months ago. He kept calling them "his boys." So cute. Sue told us that she saw a huge change in her Son and wanted to learn how she could feel that same peace and joy in HER life. He had already told her all about Joseph Smith and she couldn't wait to learn more! She had been waiting for us to come!
She started reading the Book of Mormon on her kindle a few weeks ago but she said "I just wish I had a hard copy so I could highlight the things that I like!" I smiled and opened my bag and said, "Well... Sue! You are in luck! Look what I have just for YOU."
Her eyes widened as I handed her the little blue book that has changed my life and was about to change hers. Her wrinkled hands unsteadily grasped it from me and her shaking fingers stroked the cover. "It is beautiful. This is for ME? Oh thank you! Thank you!"
We talked for about 45 minutes and when we asked them if they would like to come to church tomorrow. Sue said "YES!" Before we had even finished the invitation. Judith (who we found out has dementia) was so funny about coming... but we got her to agree. Oh man... I love her so much. She and I fist bump all the time and she dances everywhere she goes.
SORRY JUDITH, NO MORNIN' COFFEE
SUNDAY- Church starts at 9am. We were sitting in a early morning meeting at the church building it was about8am and I felt prompted to look at the phone since it was on silent. I look at it and we had a missed call from Sue. She had left a voicemail saying, "Hello ladies. Judith and I are at the church. It seems we may have arrived a bit early.... we will just wait for you to call us back. See you soon! Bye!" We had to run back into ward council and grab our bags. We told everyone they were here and everyone was so excited! Sister 'Ita'aehau and I walked into the chapel and found an empty chapel and two white haired angels sitting on the middle pew. Someone had seen them walking around and invited them into the chapel, bless those members hearts. Sue was excited. I mean they had gotten there at 7:50am it starts at 9am! Sue was reading her Book of Mormon and Judith was just.... well... being Judith haha. We sat down and Judith puts her hand on her hip and says, "Well y'all. I am just here for the mornin' coffee. Where is it?" We just smiled and laughed. Sue rolled her eyes and said, "Judith, I told you. They don't have coffee here sweetie." Judith proceeds to pout her lips and then put her sunglasses on (inside the chapel mind you...) and sit with her arms folded. haha. It was hilarious.
Everyone was very welcoming and Sue loved it. Judith was so funny. The family behind us told us later that they got such a kick out of sitting behind them because Judith was talking through the Sacrament prayers about some baptist church she had been to haha. Sister I was sitting next to her and was like, "Shhhh... Judith,we are about to pray. Can you tell me about it later? :)"
"HUH?!"
"We are about to pray. You can tell me after :)"
*pause*
"Anyway... I just wanted to tell you that this baptist church was really small and....etc"
Guess she didn't understand haha, bless her heart.
We were singing in the choir too and so they got to see us up there singing and Sue was so cute about it. We are going over there tomorrow and I am so excited to teach them about the restoration!
THE MYSTERY MAN, EMIR
The Sisters in like May contacted this guy at the park named Emir. I had only heard his name and we had textedhim a few times when I was with Sister Wessendorf. But we had like 4 separate appointments with him this week and he kept rescheduling (so in order to fit him in we would switch our dinner plans or swap appointment times with Less Actives.) But then after all that he would cancel or not show up. So he texted us on Friday and asked to meet Saturday. We told him that we would love to meet with Saturday but would he really show up? We told that our message is important and can bring him closer to Christ. But if he doesn't want to make meeting with us a priority in his life, he should think about it and let us know when he is ready to meet. He send a text back super quickly saying, "No, I really do want to meet. I promise. Tomorrow at 12:45 at the church."
Deal.
We show up and the only thing I know about this guy is that all his siblings are members and he isn't and that the Sisters met him at the park. I didn't even know what he looked like! We met at the church and he said that the minute he walked in he got the chills and felt something special. Something that he couldn't explain. His brother used to be a Bishop in NJ and his 16 year old daughter is investigating the church in NJ. He told us that he has seen a change in her and she was going down the wrong path but now she is going to church. (none of this we knew before hand.) It was NOT coincidence that we had just happened to have our lesson in the Young Women's room. On the wall there is a vinyl decal of the young women's theme. I looked over at it apparently he needed to hear it because before I knew it I said, "Emir, this is what your daughter recites every single week as she comes to church." I read the theme aloud as he read along. The spirit was so strong. I turn to him and I could see the spirit working on him. I ask, "Emir, what do you think has caused such a change in your daughter?"..... silence. His eyes started to fill with tears. "Jesus Christ."
"Exactly. Do you believe that he can transform you and bring peace to your life just like he helped your daughter?"
"Yes, yes. And that is what I want."
Well he has come to the right people! :)
Emir came to church yesterday also. He had to come to a different ward because of the time but we went and he really enjoyed it. He told us that he wasn't going to come but his daughter called him and talked him through it.
MTC FLASHBACK AND A MIRACLE
We had a super cool fireside last night in Cypress! We had like 100 missionaries there for a choir, musical numbers, recent converts speak and the mission president and his wife spoke also. It was so powerful. Everyone was sitting in the pews and then all the missionaries filed in as we sang "Called to Serve" it was so powerful. There were many people crying, including me of course. The spirit was so strong. Then we sang "a childs prayer" and "the efy medly" http://youtu.be/-
And do you want to know the cherry ontop? After the fireside I looked at the phone and we had a voice-mail from a number we didn't know. We listened to the voice-mail and this is what it said, "Hi Sisters you don't know me but I am Emir's daughter and I just wanted to call you and talk to you for a little bit. I want to thank you for everything you have done for my dad. I want to get to you know you and talk, so give me a call back when you can thanks!"
I ABOUT PASSED OUT. HOW STINKIN COOL.
We are going to call her later today. Gah. Love this work. I miss it already.
CHURCH IS TRUE.
xoxoxox
Trying to fix the accordian doors at the church so we could play volleyball. #eldersarestupid
Our EPIC meal when our dinner cancelled.
A cute note.
Love these dudes. #carpool
Isn't her outfit COOL? #tonganlyfe
The Sisters in our district! Love them!
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