Well...this week was
full of miracle after miracle.
The work is starting
to boom here.
We had such an amazing
experience last Wednesday. There was an investigator that we hadn't
visited for a while because the last time we went, her son was drugged and
acting weird and the Spirit told us to leave there fast. Anyway, we had
had a lesson fall through and we had a small thought to visit this
investigator. We went to her house and she was there! She let us in
and we started asking her how she was doing. She had lots of pain and had
been in the hospital for the past 15 days. Her son was also causing her
lots of problems and she kicked him out of the house. Anyway, that was a
miracle because we couldn't keep passing by as long as her son was living there
because it was dangerous. Anyway, she wanted a priesthood blessing to
help her feel better, so we called the Elders and they were able to come
over. The blessing was absolutely beautiful, and she is so full of
faith. Afterward, we started teaching her the Restoration along with the
Elders and it was the smoothest lesson I've ever had. Every single person
listened to and acted on the Spirit and the lesson just flowed. Right
when my companion was about to explain about when Heavenly Father and Jesus
Christ appeared to Joseph Smith, people knocked on the door. Her sister
and her family all walk in and start talking. At first we were all like
"dang. That just killed the flow of our lesson and it might not be
as powerful now." But one of the Elders did an amazing job of
pulling all three of them in. They were all very receptive and at the end,
each one of them accepted the invitation to be baptized. It was
incredible to see! None of it was us. It is God's work and He was the one
who prepared these people and inspired us to know what to say. He is
leading His work. I know that the Lord is preparing people to receive the
message of His restored gospel. I know that each of you plays a critical
part in that preparation as you follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost and
share your testimony with others. You never know how much good you do!
Hermana Hyland is
doing well! We get along really well, and we laugh a lot. The
extent of our "rude” comments is when we are in someone's house and we
have just eaten a ton and she tells me that she hopes they give me another
piece of cake. Hahaha, we love each other a lot and she is so awesome.
She is throwing herself out of her comfort zone and in lessons, if I set her up
for it and tell her what she is going to teach, she will take it and run with
it. I'm honestly so impressed by her. I never wanted to do that
when I didn't understand what was going on. She works hard, she's obedient,
has a great attitude, and follows the spirit. The mission is lucky to
have her!
I also feel like I am
finally becoming more focused on my missionary purpose and I am loving
it. I have really learned a lot about the importance of inviting people
to be baptized and making that the focus. I finally realized this week
that we can do lots of things as member missionaries that we do here as
full-time missionaries. There are lots of really good things that are
part of missionary work such as finding, re-activating, sharing scriptures with
people, praying for and with people, etc. But there is one difference
between us as member missionaries and full-time missionaries, and that is the
authority to invite to baptism. I can keep staying involved in all the
wonderful other parts of missionary work after my mission, but I can't go
around inviting my brothers and sisters to be baptized. That is something that
I can only do for this year and a half. That is our PRIMARY purpose. That
realization has changed my focus completely and it has helped me become a more
effective instrument of the Spirit this week. By being worthy of and
listening to the spirit this week, my companion and I were able to invite 5
people to baptism and every single one accepted. Of those five we were
able to meet with 2 of them again and put them with a baptismal date. That was
a pure miracle that we recognize had nothing to do with us and everything to do
with Heavenly Father. We were also able to realize the huge need to work
with the members and help them do the other parts of missionary work that they
can be doing because WE NEED THEM! WE NEED ALL OF YOU. Keep trying to
find ways to help the work progress! You can do so much(: Basically I
feel like Heavenly Father just helped me see a lot clearer where my focus
should be.
Anyway, sorry this
email is all over the place, but I'm learning a lot and enjoying the
mission! I love you all! Have an amazing week!
-Hermana West
