January 18, 2016
We had snow this week!! It was
probably an inch or less, and it only
stuck for a few hours, but we had snow! Elder Masuku loved it!
We had Interviews with President Stevens and his wife this week - they
were AMAZING!!! They told me exactly what I needed to hear! The Lord
truly does inspire our leaders!
In addition to snow, we had a downpour of MIRACLES! For example,
Sunday was a miraculous day! Our friend, C, and her mother, J, both
came to church! This was C's 2nd time and J's 1st time. We asked one
of the Relief Society counsellors if she could take them to church,
and she went above and beyond - after she brought them to church, she
gave them a chapel tour, gave them some good seats in the chapel, and
started helping them to get to know other members! MIRACLE!! Another
friend, K, who'd stopped us a week ago and asked if we could help him
come to church, was able to come this week too! He's from Zimbabwe,
and Elder Masuku knew the language that he spoke, so they chatted away
for a while. He was a bit more quiet and timid, but he really enjoyed
coming and wants to come next week too!
Another miracle happened when we were tracting a street near to a
less-active member. A Jamaican man opened the door and almost
immediately started saying that he wasn't interested, but when we
started talking with him and asking him questions, he started to open
up. We learned that his parents are members in Jamaica and have helped
set up a ward or two over there, and we learned what he thought about
God. He declined our invitation to learn more about the Restoration,
but after having a friendly conversation, he agreed to give us his
email so we could let him know about any ward activities that he could
come to. When we offered service, he said that there would definitely
be something we could help out with in the next few weeks. The miracle
was that none of this would've happened if we'd been robotic in our
approach - we need to love the people and be natural in order to
invite the Spirit into our conversations.
We saw another miracle when we were contacting a less-active member
the ward had asked us to visit. We'd tried several times before, but
she'd never been home. When she opened the door, she told us that she
didn't want any more contact from the Church. We started a
conversation with her about this, and she told us that she didn't feel
comfortable when she came to church and didn't want to come, but that
she still believed everything about it. We asked her if she still read
the scriptures, and she said no. We invited her to read the Book of
Mormon, because if God was still important to her, then this would be
a way to strengthen her relationship with Him. She said yes, and we
gave her a Book of Mormon to read. Even though she still doesn't want
to come to church or receive any contact or visits from the church, we
hope that by reading the Book of Mormon, she'll eventually gain a
desire to return. What I learned from this experience is that we need
to be bold with people. If we hadn't been bold, then we would've never
given her the opportunity to read the Book of Mormon. The only way we
can find out if they're ready is by inviting them!
One final good experience this week happened when we taught our
investigator family. They're still crazy busy all the time, and
they're not sure if they'll be able to commit to regularly attending
church. We decided that we would help them to start making the small,
important steps first to help them to begin progressing again, so we
helped them set goals to begin reading and praying daily. We've
created a reading calendar for them, and we're excited to see how they
like it!
Thanks for reading! Hope everyone has a great week! Hope you enjoy and
stay safe in the snow!
Elder McOmber
Funnies of the Week
We had an interesting lesson yesterday with another investigator, K,
from Sri Lanka. He had two friends over when we stopped by, and they
had some interesting ideas. As we were doing the best we could to
teach about the Restoration, they would interrupt by saying things
like "Socialism is great" and "Scientists say we have 50 million
galaxies in the universe!"
stuck for a few hours, but we had snow! Elder Masuku loved it!
We had Interviews with President Stevens and his wife this week - they
were AMAZING!!! They told me exactly what I needed to hear! The Lord
truly does inspire our leaders!
In addition to snow, we had a downpour of MIRACLES! For example,
Sunday was a miraculous day! Our friend, C, and her mother, J, both
came to church! This was C's 2nd time and J's 1st time. We asked one
of the Relief Society counsellors if she could take them to church,
and she went above and beyond - after she brought them to church, she
gave them a chapel tour, gave them some good seats in the chapel, and
started helping them to get to know other members! MIRACLE!! Another
friend, K, who'd stopped us a week ago and asked if we could help him
come to church, was able to come this week too! He's from Zimbabwe,
and Elder Masuku knew the language that he spoke, so they chatted away
for a while. He was a bit more quiet and timid, but he really enjoyed
coming and wants to come next week too!
Another miracle happened when we were tracting a street near to a
less-active member. A Jamaican man opened the door and almost
immediately started saying that he wasn't interested, but when we
started talking with him and asking him questions, he started to open
up. We learned that his parents are members in Jamaica and have helped
set up a ward or two over there, and we learned what he thought about
God. He declined our invitation to learn more about the Restoration,
but after having a friendly conversation, he agreed to give us his
email so we could let him know about any ward activities that he could
come to. When we offered service, he said that there would definitely
be something we could help out with in the next few weeks. The miracle
was that none of this would've happened if we'd been robotic in our
approach - we need to love the people and be natural in order to
invite the Spirit into our conversations.
We saw another miracle when we were contacting a less-active member
the ward had asked us to visit. We'd tried several times before, but
she'd never been home. When she opened the door, she told us that she
didn't want any more contact from the Church. We started a
conversation with her about this, and she told us that she didn't feel
comfortable when she came to church and didn't want to come, but that
she still believed everything about it. We asked her if she still read
the scriptures, and she said no. We invited her to read the Book of
Mormon, because if God was still important to her, then this would be
a way to strengthen her relationship with Him. She said yes, and we
gave her a Book of Mormon to read. Even though she still doesn't want
to come to church or receive any contact or visits from the church, we
hope that by reading the Book of Mormon, she'll eventually gain a
desire to return. What I learned from this experience is that we need
to be bold with people. If we hadn't been bold, then we would've never
given her the opportunity to read the Book of Mormon. The only way we
can find out if they're ready is by inviting them!
One final good experience this week happened when we taught our
investigator family. They're still crazy busy all the time, and
they're not sure if they'll be able to commit to regularly attending
church. We decided that we would help them to start making the small,
important steps first to help them to begin progressing again, so we
helped them set goals to begin reading and praying daily. We've
created a reading calendar for them, and we're excited to see how they
like it!
Thanks for reading! Hope everyone has a great week! Hope you enjoy and
stay safe in the snow!
Elder McOmber
Funnies of the Week
We had an interesting lesson yesterday with another investigator, K,
from Sri Lanka. He had two friends over when we stopped by, and they
had some interesting ideas. As we were doing the best we could to
teach about the Restoration, they would interrupt by saying things
like "Socialism is great" and "Scientists say we have 50 million
galaxies in the universe!"
Wearing my favorite suit and new favorite Christmas tie
(thanks Mom!)
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