Friday, April 15, 2016

April 11, 2016

Hello out there! 

So guess what? We officially have a baptism this Saturday! Alton passed his interview and is all set!!! WAHOO! We are so excited for him. Well that is kind of the big news of the week, haha our week was a little slow.  OH! Also, one morning we stepped out of our apartment to find a "For Rent" sign outside of it. So we are finally moving at the end of the transfer!! It has been a long time coming.  Crossing our fingers it's out of Wake Forest, outside the realm of the Seminary Students, has both heating and air condition and isn't in the midst of the projects. 

This week consisted of a lot of tears on my part watching S. Tuala bear her testimony at Zone Training and again on Sunday.  I don't know why I got chosen to send two companions home.  Guess I know more what it feels like to send out a missionary maybe. 

We had a great lesson with our investigator Lynda!  Don't remember if I've talked about her, but quite a while ago we received a referral from Lynda's friend living in Idaho.  We visited with her once and then S. Tuala and Hermana Pouliot went back on exchanges and had a really great lesson with her and her son also joined in.  We had another lesson with her this past Wednesday.  This lady is elect! She read the Introduction and testimonies that they had left her from the Book of Mormon, but not only did she read them but underlined, studied, and wrote down questions.  She was so excited about Joseph Smith's testimony and the instructions he received from the angel Moroni, she said it gave her chills. Unfortunately, they were totally committed to coming to church this Sunday and they were a no-show. :( Hopefully we'll find out what happened this week. 

We had yet another run-in with Seminary Students this week.  We had just been dropped off in a neighborhood to tract, said our prayer, and the first house was two girls in their 20's who of course invited us right in!  You start to pick up on the Seminary Student "aura" after a while.  Anyways it was just same old same old. The thing that struck me this time was that they do not listen to anything you say. They claim that the Bible is everything and we don't need any more and it's wrong to add to scripture.  So we explain to them that the Book of Mormon is an ancient record from the American continent that was being recorded beginning 600 years before Christ and that it was a record GIVEN to Joseph Smith to translate.  It wasn't written by him.  He didn't make it up.  It is additional scripture from God that testifies that Jesus really is our Savior.  But then they just go back to their same argument again and again even though we literally just showed them the answer.  S. Tuala did absolutely amazing and gave a powerful testimony of Jesus Christ and because of Him her family will be eternal.  We were both teary eyed.  I truly don't know how they couldn't feel even an ounce of that spirit that was there.  I think Heavenly Father sent me to this area so that I can have a rock solid testimony of the Book of Mormon. That I can know without a doubt that it is true, because I have my testimony questioned so often.  At the end of it all, we told them that we can talk all night till we are blue in the face about this, but they are never going to understand until they read the Book of Mormon.  That is where it all lies.  And neither of them took one. Crazies. 

Sunday was a wild one.  We had a less active who hasn't been to church in years show-up to bless her baby!  We also had 3 other less actives show up to church as well! We were also very popular Sunday as we had agreed to teach someone's Sunday School class, make an appearance in sharing time, and help with a primary class.  Also, since everyone realized Tuala's going home in 2 weeks, we have a full meal calendar.

This week was a hard one for S. Tuala, she found out that her grandma passed away.  So please keep her and her family in your prayers. 

Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are so mindful of us. We are put in specific places with specific people all for a reason. And it is up to us and our choices, as President Monson counseled us, how we best use the opportunities we are given.  I am so grateful to serve with S. Tuala. and I am so grateful to be here in Wake Forest, it is definitely not the easiest or always the most ideal of situations, but it's always worth it.  It is worth it because this is not my mission, it is His. 

"He remembereth every creature of his creating, he will make himself manifest unto all." Mosiah 27:30

Love ya'll,
Sister Dearden

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