We had a pretty intense experience with Jackie this week. We were going to meet with her that night and all of a sudden we get a text from her saying how confused she was because one of her friends came over and told her what horrible people were were and said all these negative, untrue things to her. Friends, this is what we missionaries call being "anti-ed". Jackie was so confused because of the lack of knowledge she has about religion in general. We happened to be in her neighborhood and the appointment we were going to fell through, so we were able to rush over! Jackie explained to us that her friend saw the Book of Mormon and freaked out and then just went off on this rant. She said that her friend wanted us to call her when we got there so she could talk to us, we didn't really want that but Jackie really wanted us to hear it from her. We told her to not mention that we were there because we didn't want there to be any contention or arguing, so she called her and put her on speaker and just asked her to remind her what she said. Now I've got to admit, I was a little bit nervous in this moment. Usually when people anti you, you aren't mentally prepared for it and it kinda just happens, but this time I had time to think about it beforehand. I was thinking to myself, "Is this going to shake me? Is my conversion deep enough?" Then I thought of Jacob in the Book of Mormon and when he was confronted with the Anti-Christ named Sherem. Jacob said,
" And he had hope to shake me from the faith, notwithstanding the many revelations and the many things which I had seen concerning these things; for I truly had seen angels, and they had ministered unto me. And also, I had heard the voice of the Lord speaking unto me in very word, from time to time; wherefore, I could not be shaken." (Jacob 7:5)
As this lady retold all these horrible things Jackie I could feel that I, like Jacob, could not be shaken. In fact, these absurd things she was saying made me laugh because of the ignorance and lack of knowledge this lady had about our church. Now, I have not seen angels by any means, but I can say that I have felt the Spirit testify to me that these things are true and this witness is more powerful than Satan's lies and deceptions. I can say now with an even stronger conviction that I know this is Jesus Christ's church.
We have been working with a new family! There names are Ryan and Janet Stith and their sons name is Aiden! We had two lessons with them and they already found out we don't drink coffee but they were still willing to meet with us even though they love their coffee! (Like seriously though, in the Marines, Ryan made a coffee filter out of a sock so he could drink his coffee!) They came to church yesterday too and said they had a wonderful experience!! Please pray for them!!
So we met this man named Leon when we were tracting and he was really wanting to know more about Jesus and he had been reading the New Testament by himself. We texted him later in the week and he said he wanted to meet that day and he told us what park to meet him at. We came, and he said his high school sweetheart named Aqcuawna would be coming too which we though would be super awkward but it ended up being great! After we started teaching she asked, "How old are you two?" "20." "Wooow. That is amazing how dedicated you are at such a young age!" We taught them about the Book of Mormon and they both really wanted a copy, so we told them we'd bring them one the next time we meet. We all said a prayer together which was really interesting because we all stood in a circle and held hands and then they started praying to Jesus... and they other would say "amen" "yes Lord" "mmhmm" and all their kids started joining in and then they started going around the circle and letting everyone pray and I panicked and was like AH we don't pray like this! What do I do?! but then they stopped before it got to us! #blessed
We were able to get in contact with a part member family!! The member's name is Michelle Covert, and her son isn't a member. We have been wanting to ask if we could teach her son for like 4 months! We dropped by and as we were writing a note, she pulled up in her car and let us in! This lady has a LOT of problems. Like, if you think your life is bad, you should talk to her. I won't name them all but she has a TON of health issues and is pretty much falling apart and is planning on moving to be with her mom so she can take care of her AND to top it off, her ex-husband's mom (who she was very close to) died and she was really struggling with that. Her son was really struggling with the death of his Grandma and she kept expressing how hard this was. It was really perfect though because I was able to relate to her because my father had passed away and I was able to testify of how much comfort the Plan of Salvation gave me at such a young age and was able to offer teaching that to her son so that he can feel the comfort that comes from knowing that plan. She expressed a lot of gratitude and said that she would ask him! It is amazing to see how we can bless the lives of others though the trials we have in life.
I have been thinking a lot about something that Acquawna told us she heard from her pastor. I think it was pretty profound. She talked about how in life, we go around and we can talk to anyone about our interests, for example, football. You say someone's favorite team and they can go on and on about the players and the statistics and all those details. But, how many people go up to people on the street and start talking about Jesus and they players on His team like Matthew and Noah and all the different things they learn in the scriptures (I mean besides us, we do that on a daily basis). It is definitely a good indicator of where your priorities are in life. If Christ is on your mind constantly, then that is who you will talk about. If other things are on your mind, those are the things you will talk about. I invite you to re-evaluate what your thoughts are preoccupied with, if they are not focused on the things that matter most in the grad scheme of things, don't worry, there is always repentance. :)
Serving with a Smile,
Sister Bradley
1. We went on a "hike" at Baugo creek! (It was pretty much a walk haha)
2. Finding my inner balance.
3. These Church signs may be my favorite part of Indiana!
No comments:
Post a Comment