This has been one of the most
powerful weeks of my mission. I KNOW that God answers prayers, that He
is involved in this work, and that He truly does love us.
So last week, during weekly planning, we had this crazy idea.
We were thinking of crazy things we could do for my second to last week
in the mission. And we decided to set a goal of teaching 30 lessons.
Keep in mind that normally we teach between 8-12. On good weeks. So this
almost seemed impossible. But we felt the Spirit confirm to us that we
could do it. So we put our faith in that and asked everyone for their
prayers, rallied the support of the ward, and went for it. And miracles
happened. And we taught 30 lessons! It was one of the most mentally
taxing weeks of my mission because we were going from teaching apt to
teaching apt. And when you're teaching you're so focused on what is
going on, praying for your companion to say the right things and for you
to hear the spirit, understand the investigator, and say the right
things as well. But it was all worth it. I'll just tell you some of the
miracles that we saw since I don't have much time today. (I'm having a
really hard time writing about it....sorry).
Steven: I love him. He is 14. He is Cathy's
son. He has grown to love the Gospel so much this past week. We met with
him at the beginning of the week Tuesday with his mom and Wednesday at
the church with a young man in the ward. We taught him about the Plan of
Salvation and about having Faith in Jesus Christ. The next day he left
on Trek. And we were able to teach him again on Saturday after he got
home, saw him at church, and then taught him again that evening. It has
been amazing to see the light in him grow. Our lesson with him on
Saturday was awesome. He closed with prayer and as he prayed so
sincerely to know the truth and then prayed for "the sisters" I could
barely stop from crying. It struck me how much I love this work and how
soon I'm no longer going to be here as a missionary. It hurt my heart to
think about it. Then last night we finally were able to teach him the
restoration. He loved it. We asked him about how he has felt since we
began to teach him 2 weeks ago. He said he felt good. He felt happy. And
a few minutes later he said, actually, I feel really really happy. We
invited him to kneel down and ask God if it was true. He agreed and we
all knelt in prayer. He told Heavenly Father that he really wanted to
know. And then he closed and waited as he paid attention to the feelings
that he felt. When he got up he said he didn't know if God answered
him. We told him that was okay and answers come in time. But we asked
him again and he said that he thinks that he got his answer and that he
wants to be baptized. It was so so good. I love being a missionary.
Sara-We've been teaching her for a
while now. her bf is a member and introduced her to the church. She
first learned from elders until we realized that she lived within our
ward boundaries. We taught her one of the most powerful lessons I've
ever been in last tuesday. It was beautiful as she expressed the things
she has been learning and feeling and how it's helped her in her life.
We taught her a couple more times, and each time as we taught she seemed
happier. She has been reading and praying every day and wants to get
baptized (just waiting for parental permission). She was our last lesson
this week and it was so beautiful to see that even in a week you could
SEE the difference the Gospel is making in her life.
This was last night-after we taught our last lesson (#30) to Sara. We taught her at President's home.
Okay, I'll just have to tell you about the rest because I'm out of time.
But here are a couple more pictures from the week:
This one was from last night-after we finished everything and
got home that night. Completely exhausted but SO happy :) That 9999
counter was a joke that we somehow started so every time we got in the
car we would push the little counter button and by the end of the week
we got to 9999. We thought it was hilarious. But then again, we were
kind of crazy by the end...
On Saturday we did a blitz in
the atherton ward. Sister Tumurbataar had never seen the ocean so we
were able to go down to the boardwalk and she saw it for the first time.
It was fun :)
I
love you all. Thank you for your prayers and love and support. And all
you people here in Cali, don't forget about me! We'll keep in touch :)
This truly is the most important work and how
grateful I am that God allowed me to be part of it full time for a year
and a half. And now I get to go home and learn how to be involved in it
there with everything else that comes a long with real life. I'm excited
to figure it out :) Don't forget to thank Heavenly Father for the
blessings He has given you.
Love you!
Love,
Sister Andelin
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