Heat, Korean Food, Miracles, and a funny LOC lesson

Well this week was great and VERY HOT! See the picture below.

 

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We had a lot a cool experiences this week. Tuesday was exchanges. I went to the Soundview area with Sister Horgeshimer. ​Exchanges were so great but weird in the sense that it didn't feel like an exchange. It felt completely normal. Super weird. Sister Horgeshimer is amazing. She's so loving and sweet. we had a blast. I learned a lot from her about silent but powerful statements. Sorry I can't explain that better.

Wednesday we had a lesson with a lady named Michelle. It was a very instructive lesson. Michelle is a nondenominational Christian who refuses to claim a religion because every church she's attended has missing pieces. Everything she was saying fit right into the message we share about the apostacy and the restoration. It was in this lesson I truly came to understand the feeling explained in Mosiah 28:3. I didn't tremble but I could feel my heart break everytime we saw her reject a piece of truth. I had the lesson reinforced to me that God is preparing each one of us to learn the truth but unless we're willing to see it we're blinding ourselves. From this lesson I learned a lot about the spirit and how even if the people we meet don't accept it we still need to share it with them so that we can gain a stronger understanding of the gospel.

Thursday we had a fun lesson with our investigator Lee who is on date for baptism Saturday! She is amazing. We taught her pretty much all the commandments and she just took them in faith telling us she knew they were of God. Then came the big one (other than word of wisdom, we'd taught that two weeks ago). We taught her about the law of chastity and it was the funniest moment of my mission! We taught her about how God has given us these bodies as a gift and how just like with the word of wisdom we have to take care of them in every aspect. We clearly stated that the Law of Chastity teaches about the sacredness of certain relationships and how they should remain within marriage only (of course we were more blunt than saying "certain relationships"). When we finished teaching it in what we thought was a very clear simple way we asked her if she could commit to living it. She said she'd try and of course we asked what'd hold her back. Her husband then explained to us in vague but at the same time too much detail what their concerns were. The whole time they hadn't caught the part about OUTSIDE of marriage so we quickly cleared that up trying not to laugh too hard the whole time. Most awkward law of chastity lesson for me yet! (Surprising I feel that's really the only awkward one I've had so far...) To make that all better Lee made us Korean food! Authentic Korean food. I can't remember the name of all the dishes she had made us but they were all delicious! I'm hooked on it!

Friday we did some service for an elderly couple, Billy and Jacque, they are just so precious! They are the cutest! They're in their late 80s and Billy forgot his email password so we were walking him through how to get it back. None of the traditional methods were working. We literally tried EVERYTHING. We asked him for every past password he'd used and tried them, contacted technical support, the whole shebang. 5 minutes before we have to leave we feel a very soft prompting to ask him again for previous passwords and the very first one he says is his email password! It was so cool! So we got him set up with some back ups for if he can't remember it and wrote it down for him. They're just so cute and I loved seeing how Heavenly Father even helped with something as simple as an email password. God truly loves us all!

Saturday was the coolest day! The day was wide open from 10 to 4 and we weren't completely sure what to do with it so we planned and moved forward in faith. We started by street contacting and after about 45 minutes we were heading back to our car and had decided to instead take a right turn (the opposite way of our car). We walked down this street and there was nobody there! Eventually we see a guy on the opposite side of the busy road. We shout across the 4 lanes and attempt to have a conversation (it wasn't working out very well but we sure were going to try). Next thing we know the street is empty of cars so we run across and proceed to walk with this guy having an amazingly powerful conversation. After 45 minutes my wonderfully spiritually in tune companion asks if the guy would be willing to walk to our church building (20ish+ minutes walk away) to take a tour. He agrees! So we walk with Maxamillian to our church building and quickly send out a ton of texts asking for some immediate fellowship so that we can go inside the building. Very quickly a sister responds and says she'll be there in 30. We arrive at the building minutes before JoAnna. What happened next will forever be one of my favorite memories. We walk into the foyer and Max starts shaking slightly. I thought he might be cold after having walking in the heat for so long. We then point out the picture of Jesus Christ praying in the garden of Gethsemane. No sooner do we say that this was all done in love then Max starts weeping. Of course trying to be a tough guy he says he doesn't know why he's crying. We give him a moment to compose himself as we talk about the spirit and how he works. We then teach him about how God won't leave His children in the dark and because of this He brought the gospel of Jesus Christ back to the Earth. This whole time Max is staring intently at the picture that depicts the first vision. Solid testimonies born about the restoration and what it means later we are in the chapel where we take a moment to let him reflect and invite him to sit and feel the peace of the spirit. We sit there for a long time as Max prays. After we ask him how he feels and he tells us "I want to know the truth." He proceeds to tell us he spent his whole prayer rattling questions off at God because he wants to know if this is the truth. By the end of the lesson Max wants so badly to know the truth. He's committed to reading the Book of Mormon and praying to know the truth as well as act on the things we invite him to do. The next day he doesn't come to church but then at 6:59 during our traditional WA-TAC 5-7 knocking session we knock into Maxamillion (we didn't have his address)! It was so great and you could tell he was still seeking he'd had a situation come up that prevented him from coming but has committed to come. We've told him we'd introduce him to someone who had a very similar experience to him the first time this guy had walked into the truth. I love when we get to see God in action! That's what missionary work is! Amazing!

Well that's about all I have! I'm doing well in the heat staying hydrated and loving life. Though I must say I actually miss the snow. Getting a nice tan and growing a lot spiritually what more can I ask for?! I am so grateful to have this time to serve! Until next week! Take care!

Love!

2,2,2,10 & Baseball!

Week 2 Sister Baldwin and I were talking about how the transfer was going the perfect speed. Not painfully slow and not painfully fast. Well we jinxed it. This past week FLEW by! Before we knew it, it was over.

THe WA-TAC sets a weekly goal to help us push towards our goal of helping our brothers and sisters be baptized by the proper authority. This week was a good one. 2 New Investigators, 2 at church, 2 on date for baptism, and 10 lessons with members present. Sister Baldwin and I really took that to heart and we pushed it. We didn't end up with the 2,2,2,10 but we saw a lot of miracles because of it. Doors that seemed like they would have slammed shut stayed open. Countless people prayer with us. We passed out 19 copies of the Book of Mormon to people who seemed genuinely interested! It was so great to watch God at work.

My favorite moment of last week happened yesterday. Both our evening appointments fell through so we decided to street contact and talk to people. We approached this lady who was with her dog and asked her if she had ever met missionaries. She said she had and talked about how many of her family members had done missionary work. We realized she didn't catch when we said "from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" so we repeated it again and then a great conversation followed about how she had but she was really content with her faith and had a strong faith in Christ. It was such a powerful experience as we opened our mouths and you could tell the Spirit was guiding the conversation. We asked if she'd ever heard of the Book of Mormon and if she'd ever read one. She gave the typical answer about how she sticks with the truth and only reads the Bible. Then came the best part. As we testified of the Book of Mormon not replacing the Bible but merely adding a second witness to our Savior Jesus Christ telling her there wasn't a single page that didn't testify of our Savior and His gospel. Ending with one of my Favorite verses whether she felt it or not my personal testimony of the Book of Mormon was strengthened.

2 Nephi 33:10

"10 And now, my beloved brethren, and also Jew, and all ye ends of the earth, hearken unto these words and believe inChrist; and if ye believe not in these words believe in Christ. And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words,for they are the words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me; and they teach all men that they should do good."

After a brief but powerful conversation she told us she had never heard about the Book of Mormon from such a perspective and then before we could even offer her a copy she asked if we had one she could read. It was so great! She seemed to really appreciate when we told her the Book of Mormon is evidence of God's love for His children, testifies purely of Christ, and stands as evidence that we are to read and pray about so we can personally come to the knowledge that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored exactly the same as it was established by Christ because it was brought back by Christ.

I think that's the part many people don't realize. Joseph Smith didn't restore (or found) the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Jesus Christ re-established his church to the earth because of His immense love for each of us. Joseph Smith was the tool our Savior used. Just like as missionaries we are the tool to share this message and as we can all be the tool to bless those around us.

This gospel is an amazing gift and if you have any doubts of its pure divine origin pick up a copy of the Book of Mormon and read about our Savior. Learn about His love for each of us. Then pray and ask God if it is His word. Then be willing to act on the answer you will get. You will come to learn of the Book of Mormon's true origin and come to realize that it is God's word and through that know that Joseph Smith was a humble farm boy called by our Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ to serve as a prophet to bring about the last dispensation (time) before Christ returns.

I love this gospel. I am grateful for our Father's love to bring it back to the Earth. I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is GOD's church brought back to the Earth for our benefit. Its not something you can just hear and accept its something you have to ask God. I have received my personal answer of this truth and I challenge each of you to seek the same.

Until next week.

Love,

So I forgot to tell you all. The Tacoma zones got to go to a Tacoma Rainer baseball game today. They're not the best team but being with the best missionaries was a lot of fun. More pictures to follow!

One more highlight of last week. The elders over the YSA ward knocked in our area and gave us a ton of referrals which they had scheduled appointments with for the majority of them. They accidentally scheduled to lessons for the same time & day so we ended up going on splits. Sister Baldwin went and taught a little 10 year old who is the daughter of a less active member and I went with our mission president's wife, Sister Blatter. Our appointment ended up cancelling after Sister Baldwin was already in her lesson so we tried a few potentials and ended up just street contacting. It was such a powerful spiritual moment as we got to bear testimony to 10 or so people within 45 minutes with the last hold a conversation with us for 30 minutes. It was so great and was a lot of fun to see Sister Blatter's twist on missionary work.

May 26

I feel like everytime I get ready to type an update I have no clue what to talk about and the longer I'm out the harder it is to think of anything to say. Oh well I'll try. So I really can't remember a whole lot of what happened last week. They all blend together haha. I do remember Sunday though. It was a crazy day.

We had our usual missionary meetings and church. We have a sweet lady, Lee, who is on track for baptism this coming Sunday. She comes into church and she informs us she wants to bear her testimony but she's really nervous about it. We ease her nerves by telling her testimony meeting is two weeks away so she has time to feel more comfortable. Then in Sunday school she can't hold it in any longer and just has to announce to the whole class that she's getting baptized! It was so precious. She is such a great example of faith and desire. 

After church we went home studied, all the usual, had dinner and then went knocking (which is really one of my favorite parts of missionary work. I love it) The last door on the the street we were knocking this sweet lady who's only been in America for 2 years answers the door. She's from the Philippians and had never met missionaries. We teach her the first lesson and then invite her to accept/read/pray about The Book of Mormon. She asks us to give her a minute and she stands up and shuffles into the other room. Sister Baldwin and I look at each other and shrug. We never know what people are thinking haha. A few minutes later she shuffles back in with two plates of cheese cake on her walker. It was so cute but we couldn't help but wonder how long she'd been considering getting us some cheesecake. She didn't end up accepting a copy (yet) but she prayed with us twice and thanked us countless times for coming. She was so sweet. 

Later that night we're driving to go do some street contacting and our car starts making really weird noises and the starts making a high pitch grinding noise. It was crazy. All I could say to Sister Baldwin was "pull over! pull over now" it sounded like it was going to explode! Crazy. So we park in an apartment complex parking lot and call the mission vehicle coordinator. No answer. So we call some members that live in that apartment complex. No answer. We call our ZLs and they tell us to call the STLs to come pick us up and forbid us from driving the car saying they were coming to check it out. We do a little street contacting while we wait and then when they come the take the car for a drive. At first there was no noise and we were like "what on earth?!" but then it started back up and everyone of us agreed we were not going to drive it. It sounded like something metal was dragging on the ground but when we looked there was nothing. The Zone leaders get permission to split drive and take our car to the mission home. We get a ride to our apartment by the Sister Training Leaders. We spend the last 45 minutes of the night on foot. It was fun and we got to talk to lots of people but it was crazy. The next day our vehicle coordinator takes the car for a drive and informs us there is no sound. We thought he crazy but when we got back in the car there really was no noise. Apparently God just wanted us to be street contacting in a different location and he made it happen. We did end up finding a way cool lady that the STLs will hopefully soon begin teaching.

Well that's a good majority of the craziness from Sunday. It was a weird day. Anyway today in my studies I read Alma 36 and it is a fabulous chapter. I have so many thoughts on it that can't be properly explained unless you see my notes so I encourage you to read through it and pay attention to the things that are taught. I found it interesting that the first 5 or so verses and the last 6 or so verses taught the same thing. I love how simply the scriptures teach to help us understand. It stands to me as evidence of God's love. 

I hope you all had a wonderful memorial day! Have a great week and until next week ponder the ways the Lord is teaching you and look for His atonement in your life everyday!

Love always,