JK GUYS. IT'S RIDICULOUS.
But we have to be there on time to gather everyone and get ready and go, and we ride the shuttle to the airport which will prolly take an hour or so, and then we have a few hours to get settled in I guess. But ya' now. 3:30. It's whatevs. :) But I'm so excited to actually be in OK! It's so soon, I'm dying here!
We had a walk to the temple on Sunday and it was awesome. We got some great pictures, and had a really nice walk. It was nice to be outside. :) And guess what I get to go to the temple today for the second time! I'm so thrilled.
I love my district here! And my zone! Everyone has something different to add, and when we get together at meals we will just LAUGH AND LAUGH until we're like crying; seriously.
ALSO I found some Whovians in my zone and I was like, "MY PEOPLE!" And had a mini freak out session. Still no one loves Benedict Cumberbatch nearly as much as I do. One day I will find someone who does and we will be the best of friends.
My Sisters are the best ever. Seriously. We have the best times. :) And all the Elders are so respectful of the Sisters here! It's like they know how much wiser we are. ;) Heehee!
I've had COUNTLESS amazing experiences while I've been here. I'd like to share one especially amazing one with you.
So Sister Richins and I have had two investigators. One is a teacher here at the MTC, and the other is part of a TRC program which includes members, less active members, and even non members. You never find out because they are all "investigators." So our TRC investigator we were only able to meet with twice. She was so sweet - she was pretty good at English but not spectacular. She's from Madagascar! So cool! Anyway, she was pretty quiet so we had a hard time really connecting with her. She's Catholic and she really had a great relationship with Christ which was so awesome. So we taught her parts of the first lesson FOR her first lesson, and she seemed way worried about modern prophets and the Book of Mormon. But we explained that it was on the side of the Bible, right along with it and did not trump the Bible. She felt better about that. She told us about how she loved to read the Bible with her kids. We challenged her to start reading the Book of Mormon and gave her one. She accepted.
We were a little frustrated. I'd been praying so much that I would be able to teach by the Spirit and just not getting an answer. Here all everyone talks about is teaching by the Spirit. We both know how important it is, but it was so hard! We are learning so much that it's hard not to share all of it. We have to remember that we are not the teachers, but the Spirit is. And we just couldn't get the hang of it.
So that night, guess who came for the Tuesday night devotional? Elder Scott! An Apostle of the Lord came and talked to us! (p.s. I was in the choir and it was AWESOME.) And he spoke about prayer! He said we will get three answers to a prayer:
1. Warmth and Comfort (a yes)
2. Stupor of Thought (a no)
3. No answer at all.
I was like WHAT I HAVEN'T BEEN GETTING AN ANSWER IS THAT AN ANSWER? I was honestly pretty confused. But he explained that sometimes Heavenly Father needs us to step forward with faith. Heavenly Father has enough trust in me that I will follow what I know and make a step, and THEN He will give little assurances that we've made the right choice.
So I decided to put it into action. On our second meeting with her, we said a prayer as we always did, and reminded ourselves that FACTS AND LOGIC will never help someone convert. So we skipped all that and really just testified. We studied a few different things after thinking about what she really needed, and went for it.
So straight up I felt like I should ask about her family. They were doing well, her kids were getting ready for school so we talked about that for a little bit. When she said anything about her kids she simply beamed! It was wonderful. We asked her if she'd read, and she said she started, reading the introduction and the testimonies of the witnesses, and got a couple pages into first Nephi. She had a couple really hard questions. We were honest with her, that we didn't know the answers but could get back to her later.
She finally asked about Christ in the Book of Mormon, because we'd told her about Christ coming to the Americas and she was worried that Christ wasn't enough a part of the Book of Mormon as the Bible was.
Guess what one of the things was we were prompted to study? 3 Nephi 11. That was the biggest thing, too. And it was like the Spirit was guiding all of us to that direction.
So we opened it up and started reading together, starting at the beginning of the chapter, answering any questions as we went along. I think we got through verse 15, where Christ lets everyone come up, one by one, and feel the prints of the nails in his hands and feet. I could hardly contain the tears that almost came. I've never felt anything like it, guys. The Spirit was just so incredibly strong.
There was a lot of silence. We just waited. "What are you feeling?" we asked. Silence. Then we just let her talk for a minute. There were lots of breaks and pauses in between. But she was just in awe. After a couple minutes, I gently brought up that later we learn that he also took each of the children, one by one, and blessed them. I cannot express to you the feeling that I felt, and that I know she felt as well.
D&C 50: 22 says, "Wherefore, he that preacheth and he that receiveth, understand one another, and both are edified and rejoice together." I could feel the Spirit and I could feel that Sister Richins and our investigator were feeling it just as much as I was. I could feel our hearts and Spirits rejoicing together because of the SPIRIT that testified of this truth. We were all wiping away tears.
It was incredible, truly incredible.
This church is true! I know it and I'm living it in the best way anyone could! I can feel all the prayers that are said, and I can feel the angels surrounding us here. The veil truly is thinner when you're a missionary.
P.S. Sorry this is so long... :) Love you! WRITE ME LETTERS PEOPLE I WILL WRITE YOU BACK. :)
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