Happiness

This week was one of the best I've had in awhile. Missionary work and opportunities to teach and meet new people were EVERYWHERE. It was so great. I'm just going to give a little run down of the main events of the week.

Update on the W family. They were invited to decorate a trunk for our wards annual Trunk or Treat event. They came and it was great. They were able to interact with a lot of members and just have a good time. We had a powerful lesson with them on Monday night. We did a recap of the first half of the plan of salvation and finished it up. We talked about the importance of families being together. We were able to take a member that just got off of his mission. We were all able to bear strong testimonies and the spirit was there. We invited them all to pray to know if this plan we taught them was real. They accepted. We are excited to follow up and see what kind of experiences they had. We are meeting with them tonight. We decided to talk about the nature of God. Who he is. How much he loves us. We have so much faith that the W family will be baptized we just have to practice some patience.

We picked up a new investigator this week. Her name is C. She was actually passed to us from the elders. She is 14 and a freshman in high school. One of our young women from the ward P (a senior) overheard her talking about mormons one day at school and invited her to come to church. They are on the same cross country team. She came and started taking the lessons with the elders shortly after that. We came to find out that her mom didn't know and was not a supporter at all. She had been reading anti mormon literature and was not happy. P's mom asked if C's mom would be willing to sit down with her and the bishop and talk out any concerns that she had. She agreed. They met this past Friday and it went really well. Initially, C's mom was very hostile and they said by the end they were laughing and invited her to check out church so she could see first hand what her daughter was being exposed to. We went from an angry mom to a potential investigator. Our ward members are so great. They understand their role and are willing to fulfill it. We are still waiting to see what happens. C was at church yesterday and we are meeting with her today. She is so eagar to learn. After talking with her a little meeting with her twice last week it was obvious that a lot of the things that she had been taught didn't stick. We are definitely keeping things simple and applying them to her and constantly checking for understanding. She prayed for the first time in our lesson on Thursday. It was one of the best first prayers I have ever heard from an investigator. We are so excited to prepare her baptism and extend a date as soon as we get the go ahead from her mom.

So back to the trunk or treat event, it was such a gold mine of opportunities. There were 40-50 non members there and we just social networked the night away. It was so fun to make connections and learn more about people. The even cooler part is the primary program was the next day and a lot of the people that were at the activity came to church. We have a list of solid potentials that we are excited to follow up with. Most all of them are families and were invited by members so we have a connection in the ward already. We have asked and invited all of them to set up a family home evening with their friends and invite us. A simple way to introduce them to the gospel and the missionaries. We are so excited to get the ball rolling and remind our members to follow through.

Yesterday was a day of miracles. After talking to numerous potentials at church we went and had dinner with a member family. The mom asked if we would run some of the leftovers to a less active lady around the corner of course we jumped on the opportunity. We have tried to visit with Sister F before but never found success. We were surprised when she was home and invited us in right away. We chatted for a bit and she opened up about not being active. She is an older lady who married a non member and just fell away. She said she still believed in the principles of the gospel. We told her it was never too late come back and we would love to see her at church. We shared 2 Nephi 31:20 about enduring to the end (my favorite scripture). We asked if we could practice the lessons on her and she said sure. She said it would be nice to get a refresher on the basics. She left us with her number and told us to give her a call. It was a miracle. Totally unplanned and wonderful.

Then as we were leaving her house and heading back to the car we passed a couple of guys. Both S. S and I didn't really want to talk to them. They both had tattoos all over and were smoking and just had a creeper vibe. But then one of them asked us if we were from the home owners association and we told them we were missionaries. We talked to them for a long while about the Book of Mormon. We taught about Christ coming to the Americas and left them with a copy to read. Turns out it was a father and son. R the dad said he was very intrigued and would definitely read. Anthony the son chimed in and said they did everything together so he would read too. We also had the chance to pray with them and teach them the power of the spirit in conversion. They are hispanic and we have the best feeling about them. We told them when and where church meets and said they are welcome anytime.We plan to stop by sometime mid week to check in on them. Another miracle. It proved to me that there are opportunities every where. Heavenly Father has been so patient in teaching me not to judge others. I am so glad that we were provided with an opportunity to be proven wrong. We thought they would never listen but in the end boy were we wrong. It was such a blessing. It is so amazing to know that even in my weakness God pulls through. He knew those men needed to hear the truth and worked through me even at a time when I was being a coward. It is the best. I learn to much everyday.

I encourage all of you to take opportunities to do good. It will always make you feel better in the end. I know this is kind of a weird email and nothing really connects but it is just some of my weeks experiences. I hope you are all doing well.

All my love!

Sister Kimball :)