12 April 2015 Just
Some Short Stories
As usual we have been busy!
It is pretty much the same routine every 6 weeks. So I thought I would just share a few
missionary stories.
The Sister who taught Relief Society is a convert. Her conversion was unique. As a youth she lived next door to members and
there were several members at her school.
She liked them well enough. She
remembers them as being good people, great at school and sports. But she also remembered them as getting up
early, going to Seminary at 6:00 in the morning, going to long church meetings
on Sunday and having all kinds of church activities during the week and many
service projects. She was actually
grateful she was not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. Missionaries tracted them out
one day and her parents and siblings listened to the lessons taught She on the other hand had a very contentious
attitude toward everything they taught and fought with the missionaries at each
meeting. At one point, the parents told
her she did not need to attend anymore lessons . Her family was baptized. Years later, one of her parents asked her to
give it one more try. She did it out of
respect for her parents. She said she
decided to not open her mouth once to criticize. She remembers being sick to her stomach, but
the spirit in the room was peaceful.
When she was asked if she would be baptized she said yes, which
surprised even her. After she agreed,
she said the contentious feelings left and she felt a peace she had never known
before. Today, she and her husband are the Ward Mission Leaders and
love their callings and take great care of the missionaries. She said this was a testimony to her that the
Lord knows each of us personally and does all He can to bring us back to
Him.
One young Sister Missionary in her departing testimony told
of the time she and her companion were going door to door to talk about the
Book of Mormon. One person let them in
that evening. Upon first meeting him she
disliked him. He had been drinking,
using rough language and talking disrespectfully to them. She immediately decided that she never wanted
to go back. But, he was agreeable to
having them return and teach him more.
They had several lessons with him and she found that she started to look
forward to their visits. Then one day
they dropped by and he told them he never wanted to see them again and to not
ever come back. They were
disappointed! What surprised her the
most was how much she had grown to truly love this man. For several weeks she prayed for him and
hoped they might hear from him. They
never did and she was soon transferred.
Her testimony was how much Heavenly Father loves each of his children no
matter their current circumstance and He will bless us to love them as He does when we are obedient
and pray for His help.
We have a Senior Couple who were Record Preservationist
Missionaries. They went to Courthouses
in Iowa and asked to photograph and digitalize their records. Most places are happy to let them do it
because they leave them a digital copy of everything we do. It can be quite expensive and we do it for
free. One condition is that they let us
combine it with all our records world-wide that we use for genealogy/family
history. Their first area, the people
were not very friendly to them. No one
really talked to the much. They had to
remove their Missionary Name Tags as they entered the building. They were only allowed to go into the
building on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays .
Well this couple made friends easily and soon the community was inviting them to all their social events. This couple were asked lots of questions
about our church. Soon, the
administrators of the courthouse allowed them to have keys to the building so
they could go in anytime they wanted.
When they left the area the community threw a big potluck to say
good-bye and it was the best attended of their potlucks in a long time. Their testimony is that they were there to
preserve records and also to soften the peoples' hearts towards the
Mormons. So many people in the Midwest have a negative attitude based
on the traditions of their parents, their parents' parents and etc. The Mormons are sometimes preached against in
some churches. Once they meet us they
see that we are (for the most part) nice citizens and neighbors and Christians.
Well, it is time to get ready for a big day tomorrow! We are honored to be a part of the work to
bring souls unto Christ. We love you
all!
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