BEST DECISION EVER!!!

Welll! It has been an INSANE week! We have been super blessed with so many miracles! Greenies really do have fire! Lemme tell ya! Haha! 

So first! Here's a few of our miracles! 

Doug and Matt

He came outside as we were trying his neighbor. Started talking to him and Doug. We asked them if they had seen missionaries, they said they had seen the elders on bikes. We asked if they had ever talked to them, they said no. Shared Prince of Peace. Matt didn't really watch it because he was telling us about a yoga master thing that reminded him of something to do with the Savior. We asked if they were very religious. Matt said he wasn't but recently he had been going to a Christian church. He said his friends took him to church after he has recently trying to make big changes in his life. He said that some problems were really destroying his life. He told us that he is really trying to get out of it. Before that though, he didn't really give a lot of thought to God. He believes in a higher power but doesn't really know if it's God or not. Talked about the Atonement. He didn't really know what it was. We explained that the Savior doesn't want us to suffer and he has already paid for the hurt and sorrow he feels, but he doesn't have to live with that forever. We told him we could teach him how to overcome his problems. We promised that he would be able to get back everything that he had once lost. He asked what made us different from other churches. We gave him a Restoration pamphlet and invited him to read it. He said that he would. He was super cool. Doug was gone for most of that conversation, but he came back when we invited Matt to meet with us. Invited Doug to do the same, he said he would, ️

Diane: 

So, we read from the Book of Mormon 1 Nephi 10-11 and answered the questions she had, many of them logical. Then we  asked about what things rubbed her the wrong way about the church and she opened up and we talked about some of that stuff, such as baptism being a deal breaker and not seeing her family if she chooses otherwise, and a few other things, 100% spirit talking. She's going to spend some time to ponder each night after her prayer and will hopefully get an "ah ha!" moment over time but it takes time and patience. But the spirit opened her up and will hopefully help her progress out of the eterni-gator phase

It was SUPER COOL!! It was seriously Sister Whitesell asking these amazing inspired questions. I literally said like 10 words.. it was super cool to see the Spirit work through her. She has been working on that for a long time and that's something she really wanted and this week was FULL of that! 

Violetta:

Intro to her... she used to be a member but removed her name from the church records. Since than everything had literally blown up. She lost her husband, her daughter, her home, literally everything! She had been super depressed and struggling, which is totally understandable. She contacted us and we were finally about to meet with her. Last time it was super hard because she just threw all of her problems on us. I mean, we can take it but it just makes it awkward and hard. But this time we met with her, and she dumped more of her issues on us for the first 45 minutes.. I was super tired and I was trying so hard not to fall asleep, so needless to say, I wasn't in the greatest position to feel the spirit.. shame on me. But Sister Whitesell started asking inspired questions and slowly we got things out of her and made her realize that she was mad at God and she has a lot of things she needs to work on. It was SO cool to see the spirit slowly soften her heart! I have never seen anything like that! She even said our closing prayer and took a Book of Mormon...  I seriously can't even tell you... she went from being mad at the church and never wanting to come back to being willing to pray on her own and with us...AND SHE TOOK THE BOOK!!!!  After she prayed such an amazing prayer, she opened the Book of Mormon and started reading... she came to Alma 34:35.. which says "For behold, if ye have procrastinated the day of your repentance even until death, behold, ye have become subjected to the spirit of the devil, and he doth seal you his; therefore, the Spirit of the Lord hath withdrawn from you, and hath no place in you, and the devil hath all power over you; and this is the final state of the wicked." Ahhhh!!!   she started reading and my jaw hit the floor.. hah! It was NUTS! This was probably the craziest thing on my mission.. it blew my mind.. 

It's cool to be able to understand more fully the impact of the miracles like this that happen. Violetta's lesson actually brought me to tears.. Sister Whitesell was super amazed but it didn't hit has hard. Haha. Super cool. 

But yeah! That's life these days! I can't believe that I only have 5 months left... that terrifies me.. haha. 

Welp! It's been good! I love being a missionary. So many miracles and experiences happen that I would've never had otherwise. Best decision ever! ️ 

Love you all! 

Sister Hood