Putting My Heart in Texas: I LOVE AFRICAN FOOD.

RUTH

Okay... I had Zambian food this week and I was SO excited it was amazing. The rule was that we couldn't use any utensils. We were just covered in food by the end of the meal it was so good. Ruth is amazing. She has been through so much and she is so ready to make changes. We committed her to read 3 Nephi 11 and when we came back the next day she was reading it and she said that she was trying to understand all the words and had looked them all up in the dictionary. It was so sweet. She came to church and offered to say the closing prayer in gospel principles. It was SUCH a refreshing prayer. Sometimes we get so caught up in the routine of prayer at church that we think that we can't break outside the box of "vain repetitions" her prayer was beautiful. I always ask her to pray because its like she is singing. Her voice gets loud and then soft and she never says the same thing twice. As she stood in front of the class over 6 ft tall in her heels and her beautiful dress. I was just in awe of how gorgeous she looked, and gorgeous the gospel is as it floods to every corner of the earth.

One of the Sisters in Relief Society had twins and then a major surgery due to a complication, when the sign up sheet came around to ask for volunteers to bring her dinner. Ruth didn't skip a beat and wrote her name down to take dinner to the family. So sweet. We had a pie crust making enrichment activity last week and Ruth wasn't able to come so we made her a pie crust and she has never had pie! We are going to make a pecan pie with her this week and I am so excited :)

DO YOU BELIEVE THAT JOSEPH SMITH WAS A PROPHET?

We have been trying to make contact with a less active for a quite a while. Her home teacher told us that if you leave something on her porch she feels inclined to call you and thank you for it... so since she wasn't returning our calls was never home or anything we decided to just stop by with some treats and leave them on her porch. We pulled up and I was just going to have Sister I run them up to the door but then we noticed that the car in the driveway had its light left on. Even though Sister M's roommates hardly speak English we decided that maybe this was a sign that we were supposed to knock on the door. So we knocked on the door to tell them their lights were on and she said, "oh thank you so much! I will go get Maria so you can give it to her!" She was HOME! We got in and had a really powerful conversation about the gospel. Sister M has some doubts and is looking for a different church. It all stems from little things in the gospel that she disagrees with like coffee and a glass of wine a day and a few other things like that. Sister I was trying to resolve the concerns but we were just going around and around in circles.

Then this quote from Preach my Gospel came to my mind, "Just as the arch crumbles if the keystone is removed, so does all the Church stand or fall with the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. The enemies of the Church understand this clearly. This is why they go to such great lengths to try to disprove the Book of Mormon, for if it can be discredited, the Prophet Joseph Smith goes with it. So does our claim to priesthood keys, and revelation, and the restored Church. But in like manner, if the Book of Mormon be true—and millions have now testified that they have the witness of the Spirit that it is indeed true—then one must accept the claims of the Restoration and all that accompanies it.”

The spirit helped me to know what to say and the only thing that was coming to my mind was that EVERYTHING depends on the Book of Mormon. I had remembered that the first time I had ever met Sister M about 5 months ago she had told me that she didn't have a testimony of Joseph Smith when she was first baptized. She decided that she was going to plan a trip to go to the Sacred Grove so she could know for herself. She did just that and the Lord answered her prayer. She knew that he was a Prophet. That experience that she had was all I could think about... so when there was a pause in the conversation I scooted forward on the edge of my seat and said, "Sister M, do you believe that Joseph Smith was a Prophet?"

There was silence and I could see her replaying the moments in the Sacred Grove when the spirit had told her that he was. I felt it. She fumbled over her words trying to talk her way out of it. But I know that she felt it. I reminded her of her experiences that she had shared with us. And then testified of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. I told her that I know that book is true largely because I know that Joseph Smith is a Prophet of God. Sister I then tearfully and humbly shared her testimony she has such a sweet and loving testimony, she is truly a humble servant of the Lord. I am so blessed to be her companion! Sister M felt something, I don't know if she will come back to church but she did tell us that we could come back and read the Book of Mormon with her, and that is a start.

I love this gospel so much.

Church is true.

xoxoxoxoxo.

-Sister King