I LOVE BUSY WEEKS! :D
Let's see.... so, on Monday, we played Zombies in the Avalon
building, an older church building with lots of adding on. :) Needless to
say, tons of fun. :) Until I injured my toe (blood blister. That
popped.). But still tons of fun. Just, you know, running around the
halls of the church, trying not to be tagged by one of the
"Zombies".... the point is to be the last one tagged. Yup, lots
of fun. :)
Tuesday was a good day. We picked up a new
investigator! Her name is Karisma Woods, and her dad is a member, but her
mom is not. Karisma wants to be baptized, but hasn't been able to take
the lessons really because of basketball, apparently. Well, anyways, we
set up an appointment to start teaching her the lessons on Wednesday!
We're super excited. :)
We also got back into the Stinchcombs home! We
finished the whole first lesson this time, and it went really well. Even
the oldest, Jacob, was involved this time, and payed attention and seemed
interested. :) The spirit was really good there, and I really think
they're both going to progress. :)
Then we went and visited Kristie Boswell that night.
Previously, we had left her and her husband to read the first chapter of the
Book of Mormon. When we went to visit them, she was home with two of her
kids (husband was at work), and she had told us that she didn't read it.
So we read it with her, and her daughter, Melissa I think, followed along with
us. The spirit in the home was incredible! She was almost in tears
when we wrapped up. She then told us that she was going to take the Book
of Mormon with her that weekend to work and read it all! EEK! I
can't wait to hear how it goes tomorrow! :D
We taught David and Terra Pitts on Wednesday. David is
seriously one of the stinking cutest 7 year-olds I have ever met. He said
that he had prayed about the Plan of Salvation, which we had taught him last
time, and that he got an answer back that it was true! And then he got
after his mom because she got up late on Sunday and they didn't make it to
church. So, this week, we taught them about the Gospel of Christ, and
both Terra and David asked good questions. :) It's so awesome to see
these two have the desire to learn and to come back to church. :)
We also had an actual sit-down conversation with the Marsalas
on Wednesday and re-taught the first lesson! It went really well, and it
helped us know better where they were standing spiritually. So this week,
to help them with their testimony of Joseph Smith, we're going to watch the
Prophet of the Restoration movie with them. I hope it helps. :)
We had a very interesting lesson on Thursday night... so, on
Tuesday, Brother Grigg in the 3rd ward called us up and told us that we had an
appointment to meet with this potential investigator named Lino, and that he
was going to bring a friend with him.
So, the first odd thing was that we were meeting in the
Kaveman lounge above Ridleys. Nothing up there but tables, but still very
interesting. So the meeting was Sister Stevens and I, Brother Grigg,
Sister Neal, and then Lino and Doug, his friend.
So, we started out just by laying out some of both of our
basic, core beliefs. And Lino and Doug started asking questions.
And they were good questions. At first, Lino seemed to want to
understand, and it was Doug that seemed a little more... attacking. Well,
like I said, they had good questions, almost a little too good. As in
deep doctrine questions. And we were starting to lose control. So,
I turned to Doug, who's in charge of the kids ministry at his church, and made
a connection with him. I mentioned that I've taught kids about Christ as
well, and so we've had similar experiences. Then I asked him if, when
kids come to him with deep questions, if he laid out the basics of their
beliefs before he told them any deeper stuff. When he replied yes, I
explained how we were in the same situation now. We would love to be able
to explain and answer his questions, but that we had not had a chance to lay
out the basics of the Gospel yet.
There was a very visible change in that moment. It was
suddenly Doug who was wanting to hear more what we had to say, and Lino was the
one attacking us, even though we may of had the same belief as he did. It
was very hard to keep calm and not argue back, but I am very grateful that I
have the gift of the Holy Ghost to guide me to what to say.
It seemed like our conversation was 2 hours long, but
Brother Grigg neatly wrapped up the discussion at 8 o'clock, nearly 50 minutes
after we started. We ended with a prayer, and offered both Lino and Doug
a Book of Mormon (we, having previously, explained that the Book of Mormon was
another testament of Jesus Christ). Lino flat out refused, saying that
all we need is the bible, but Doug took it! I don't know if he'll really
read it or not, or if we'll hear from him again. We saw him talking with
Lino outside afterwards, and Lino seemed upset. But we feel like we have
planted the seed in Doug, and that maybe, one day, he'll be ready to accept the
full truth.
It was a hard lesson/discussion to go through, but I am very
grateful for it. It was an experience I will never forget, for sure.
On Saturday, we met with the Taylors again, and had another
fantastic lesson with Brother Taylor. He again was very active in the
conversation, and you can tell that he really wants to know. I think that
he already knows, he just doesn't realize it yet. I love the
Taylors! They're such an amazing family!
On Sunday, we spoke in 3rd ward (again), and my talk was on
agency. There was one part where I almost cried. I was talking
about how I don't need to see the news every day to see Satan trying to pull us
down, trying to make us make the wrong decisions. I just needed to see
the people who I visit and love to see Satan trying to work against us, and I
was hit with an overloading sense of love for everyone in the
congregation. I found myself pleading with them to make those right
choices so that they could be happy. It was a very special and spiritual
experience for me.
We had another lesson with the Martin girls last night, and
I think it was the best lesson we've had with them. They were all very
quiet, took turns answering questions, and even Chloee, who usually is the
disruptor, was really quiet and was involved. They're excited for General
conference to come up.
We also taught the Higleys about Missionary work.
Sister Higley is so sweet! She made some cookies for the first time (as
to first time ever or first time in the oven or first time here in the US I
wasn't quite sure about), but they were really good. :) Some sort of
like, macaroonish cookie or something. Very yummy. :)
We spent the rest of our Sunday night with one of 3rd ward
families, the Jensens. We played some sort of number game with them (they
would read a question, and you would have to guess the answer. For
example "How much did the biggest pumpkin weigh?", and then we would
guess who was the closest in answer.), and just had fun with them.
They're an awesome family. :)
Well, that's all for this week! It was a really great
week, and I just love being here in Kuna. It's the best. :)
Love y'all! Keep the Faith Strong!
Love,
Sister Empey
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